Bruce Pollock

Dr. Bruce G. Pollock is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine of the University of Toronto. From 2008 to 2020, he served as Vice President of Research at CAMH. Dr. Pollock earned his BSc (1975), MD (1979) and FRCPC (1983) from the University of Toronto. He also completed a PhD in pharmacology and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh (1987). For 35 years, Dr. Pollock’s research was centered on geriatric psychopharmacology.

In 2008, Dr. Pollock was elected president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP). He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), a Distinguished Fellow of the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA), and a Member of the Order of Canada, appointed by the Governor General of Canada in 2023. He has received recognition for his research, including the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry; the Geriatric Psychiatry Research Award from the American College of Psychiatrists; the William B. Abrams Award in Geriatric Clinical Pharmacology, American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics; the Award for Outstanding Contributions in Geriatric Psychiatry, Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry, and the Mrazek Award in Psychiatric Pharmacogenomics, American Psychiatric Association.

Research Synopsis

Dr. Pollock’s work includes clinical studies examining neurochemical selectivity, pharmacokinetics, and neurophysiological-therapeutic effects of conventional or newly derived/modified agents for the treatment of depression and the behavioral disturbances of dementia, and examination of age-related changes in drug metabolism and pharmacodynamics toward optimizing treatment with antidepressants and antipsychotics. He has had a leadership role in numerous clinical trials and the U.S. National Institutes of Health has continuously funded his research since 1990.