Phil Upshall is National Executive Director of the Mood Disorders Society of Canada. He is a founding member of the Canadian Alliance for Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH), and also serves as National Executive Director.

In 1991, Phil Upshall was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder. From 1991 to 1995, he dealt with the issues that arose as a result of his illness. Since then, he has become an advocate for Canadians affected by mental illness and mental health issues.

Mr. Upshall is a member of the Advisory Board to Statistics Canada’s Canadian Community Health Survey (Mental Health Supplement), the Mental Health Implementation Task Force for Toronto and Peel, and the Steering Committee of the Canadian Collaborative Mental Health Initiative. He is a Distinguished Advisor to the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Mental Health and Addiction. He is also a member of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) Advisory Board for the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction, a member of the CIHR National Placebo Working Committee on the Appropriate Use of Placebos in Clinical Trials in Canada and a member of the CIHR’s Privacy Advisory Committee.

A volunteer with the Ontario Bar Assistance Program lawyer assistance program, Mr. Upshall is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine of Dalhousie University. In January 2005, the Ontario Psychiatric Association presented Mr. Upshall with the Theodore Allen Sweet Award for outstanding service to the mental health system in Ontario.