Professor Gavin Andrews is a preeminent psychiatrist whose groundbreaking work has fundamentally reshaped clinical approaches to anxiety and personality disorders globally. He serves as Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales, a position he assumed in 2010 following an exceptional academic career that commenced at UNSW in 1964. Holding distinguished fellowships including FRCPsych and FRANZCP along with the honorific AO, Professor Andrews has established himself as a worldwide authority in psychiatric classification and evidence-based mental health service delivery systems. His early investigations into stuttering established the methodological rigor that would characterize his subsequent research into neurodevelopmental and mental health conditions across the lifespan. These formative studies provided the foundation for his internationally recognized contributions to mental health services research and innovation.
With over 600 scholarly publications and more than 80,000 citations as of 2025, Professor Andrews' research output demonstrates extraordinary scholarly impact and influence across psychiatric practice worldwide. His development of the Tolkien II model created a revolutionary needs-based, costed, stepped-care framework for mental health services that has been formally adopted by the World Health Organization and implemented across numerous healthcare systems internationally. His extensive research program spanning depression epidemiology, classification of mental disorders, and treatment of common mental conditions has significantly advanced the scientific understanding of internalizing disorders and their effective management strategies. Particularly transformative has been his pioneering work in internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy, which has dramatically expanded access to evidence-based mental health treatments for millions of people globally while establishing new standards for digital mental health interventions.
Professor Andrews has played a decisive role in shaping global mental health policy through his leadership with the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Classification in Mental Health, where his expertise has informed international diagnostic standards. He received the prestigious Australian Mental Health Prize in 2018 in recognition of his lifetime achievements and transformative impact on mental healthcare systems and patient outcomes. His scholarly influence continues through ongoing research activities including recent studies on online interventions for cognitive decline prevention and substance misuse, demonstrating his enduring commitment to advancing evidence-based mental health care. Professor Andrews has mentored generations of mental health researchers who now lead initiatives worldwide, ensuring the continued dissemination and implementation of his innovative approaches to mental health service delivery and treatment.
