As a celebration of our alumni, each month we will highlight a new book written by one of Oxford's North American-based alumni.
Our April 2020 book is "How Can I Help? A Week in My Life as a Psychiatrist", co-authored by Dr. David Goldbloom (Exeter 1975), and Dr. Pier Bryden (St Antony's 1986).
Dr. David Goldbloom was born in Montreal and raised in Quebec and Nova Scotia. He completed an honours degree, majoring in Government, at Harvard University and then attended the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar where he obtained an M.A. in Physiological Sciences. He trained in medicine and psychiatry at McGill University and is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Dr. Goldbloom's activities have been recognized and awarded by his peers and students. He has authored numerous scientific articles and book chapters and has provided talks and lectures to student, professional and public audiences. He is the editor of two textbooks in psychiatry and co-author with Dr. Pier Bryden of the best-selling book “How Can I Help? A Week in My Life as a Psychiatrist”, now also available in French and Mandarin. He maintains an active clinical and teaching role at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health where he serves as Senior Medical Advisor. He served as Vice-Chair and then Chair of the Board of the Mental Health Commission of Canada from 2007 to 2015. He is a member of the Boards of the Graham Boeckh Foundation and the CAMH Foundation. In addition to his professional activities, Dr. Goldbloom is a member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Conservatory of Music and a past Chair of the Board of Governors of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Dr. Pier Bryden has been a staff psychiatrist at Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital since 2001. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto, the University of Oxford, and McMaster University. She has subspecialty certification in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry with the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada. Dr. Bryden is an associate professor at the University of Toronto, where she was a 2018 Recipient of the University’s prestigious President’s Teaching Award which recognizes sustained excellence in teaching, research in teaching, and the integration of teaching and research. Dr. Bryden is the Director of Professional Values for the Faculty of Medicine, and the Director of Program Integration for the MD Program at the University of Toronto. Between 2013 and 2017 she was the Preclerkship Director for the MD Program where she co-led the most extensive curriculum renewal the program had experienced since 1992. Between 2009 and 2013 she was Faculty Lead, Ethics and Professionalism in the MD Program where she conceptualized and piloted what is now the Portfolio Course. Dr. Bryden is Chair of the Medical Council of Canada’s Central Examination Committee. She is a past member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons’ History and Heritage Committee. Her academic publications include papers on medical education, medical professionalism, and ethical and legal aspects of child psychiatry. She is the co-author, with Dr. David Goldbloom, of a popular book on psychiatry, “How Can I Help: A Week in my Life as a Psychiatrist”, which was a Canadian non-fiction bestseller, and nominated as one of ten books all Ontarians should read in 2017 by the Ontario Library Association. How Can I Help has also been published in French and Chinese language editions. She is currently co-writing, with Dr. Peter Szatmari, a second book for Simon and Schuster on children’s mental health to be published in March 2020.
You can purchase How Can I Help? A Week in My Life as a Psychiatrist here.
Are you an alumni author?
If you have written a book which was published within the last three years, or is due to be released soon, please email us the following information.
Your full name
Alumni number (or college/year of matriculation)
Title of book
Date of publication
ISBN
Link to purchase the book online
We thank you for sharing your books with us, and will let you know if you are selected for a feature in the coming months.
Please visit our archive page to look back at previous Alumni Authors