U of R mental-health researcher awarded Order of Canada

Dr. Gordon Asmundson is one of the top mental-health researchers in the world. For decades, this University of Regina psychology professor and clinical psychologist has been studying and writing about health-related and other anxieties. It’s this deep knowledge that allowed him to quickly respond to the pandemic, and his work has been instrumental to our understanding of people’s mental and emotional responses to COVID-19.

Director of the University’s Anxiety and Illness Behaviour Lab, Asmundson’s work on post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) and health anxiety have been influential, leading to changes in how these injuries are conceptualized in the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) – which is published by the American Psychiatric Association and is used by mental-health professionals to diagnose and classify mental disorders – as well as how they are assessed and treated.

Over the years, Asmundson has accumulated significant accolades and awards – and now he’s received one of Canada’s top honours. For “his ongoing research, mentorship, and clinical practice in the field of mental health,” Asmundson has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, which is bestowed on people who make extraordinary contributions to the nation.

“I feel immense pride in being able to serve my country and its citizens in a manner fitting of such an honour."

Dr. Steven Taylor is a psychiatry professor at the University of British Columbia, and has been collaborating with Asmundson for more than twenty years.

“Professor Asmundson’s appointment to the Order of Canada is well-deserved given his decades of leading-edge research, with its important clinical and social ramifications, into the nature and treatment of anxiety and pain disorders,” says Taylor.

Asmundson says he was truly surprised, thrilled, and honoured to have been appointed a Member of the Order of Canada amongst such an accomplished group and to be recognized by his country in this way.

“I feel immense pride in being able to serve my country and its citizens in a manner fitting of such an honour. I am also fortunate to have been and to continue to be surrounded by supportive, brilliant, and insightful others—from family, to mentors, students, and colleagues, to research participants, and to research funders, and my university—all to whom I am grateful and indebted, as my work involves the contributions of many,” says Asmundson.

In all, five Saskatchewan residents received the Order of Canada.