Dr. Allan Peterkin is a full Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at the University of Toronto where he serves as Humanities Faculty Lead for Undergraduate Medical Education and Post-MD Studies. He is also the Program Director for the Narrative-based Medicine Lab at the Office of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). The central themes of Dr. Peterkin's research revolve around therapeutic writing as well as the importance of narrative competence and reflective capacity for both patients and clinicians, learners, and other healthcare professionals. His teaching philosophy places a strong emphasis on how students in all clinical fields can develop their reflective abilities, narrative competence, critical thinking, visual literacy, inter-professional collaboration, and wellness/self-care practices.

His own writing has looked at topics like patient voice, cultural history, physician wellness, and human sexuality. He has written sixteen books for both adults and kids, including textbooks on physician wellness and the medical treatment of sexual minorities. He has also written short stories, poems, book reviews, and essays that explore cultural, medical, and psychological topics. Ars Medica: A Journal of Medicine, the Arts, and Humanities was founded by Dr. Peterkin. In Canadian and foreign journals, he has published poetry, fiction, and critical essays on narrative medicine and the application of the humanities to medical education.

Dr. Peterkin co-founded the annual health humanities meeting in Canada called CREATING SPACE and was instrumental in forming the Canadian Association For Health Humanities. He is a distinguished Fellow of the Canadian Psychiatric Association and a Senior Fellow at Massey College.

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