Media profile of David. A. Wolfe, Ph.D., RBC Investments Chair in Children's Mental Health and Developmental Psychopathology,
Centre for Addiction & Mental Health
David A. Wolfe, Ph.D., ABPP*
RBC Chair in Children’s Mental Health
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Dr. David Wolfe is a psychologist and author specializing in issues affecting children and youth - including how to form healthy
relationships, and prevention of bullying, dating violence, unsafe sex, substance abuse and other consequences of unhealthy
relationships. He delivers informed, professional expertise in a friendly, engaging manner, and is highly effective in reaching
a wide variety of audiences.
After completing his PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of South Florida in 1980, David Wolfe pursued an academic
career in Canada focusing on child abuse and domestic violence. He holds the inaugural RBC Chair in Children’s Mental Health
at CAMH and heads the CAMH Centre for Prevention Science in London. He is also Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the
University of Toronto. Since 2007 he has served as Editor-in-Chief of Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal.
David recently received the Donald O. Hebb Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Science from the Canadian
Psychological Association, and the Blanche L. Ittleson Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Delivery of Childrens Services
and the Promotion of Childrens Mental Health from the American Orthopsychiatric Association. His recent books include Adolescent Risk Behaviors: Why teens experiment and strategies to keep them safe (with P. Jaffe & C. Crooks; Yale University Press, 2006); Child abuse: Implications for child development and psychopathology, 2nd Edition (Sage, 1999); and Abnormal Child Psychology, 4th edition (with E. Mash; Wadsworth, 2009). He also is editor of a four-booklet series for parents of teens entitled “What Parents Need
to Know About Teens,” which deals with issues of normal and worrisome behaviours during adolescence.
His interests in violence prevention have culminated into a comprehensive school-based initiative for reducing adolescent
violence and related risk behaviors, known as the Fourth R. The Fourth R is currently used in over 800 high schools throughout Canada. It was recently identified as a top evidence-based
program for school-based violence prevention by the New Jersey-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where it is being implemented
in several US sites as part of their national violence-prevention initiative.
*ABPP is a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology awarded by the American Board of Professional Psychology
Media Contact: Michael Torres, CAMH Media Relations; 416 595 6015