Joel Paris, MD, PhD, was born in New York City but has spent most of his life in Canada. He earned an MD from McGill University in 9 4, where he also trained in psychiatry. Dr. Paris has been a member of the McGill psychiatry department since 972, where he is a full professor and has served as department chair. Dr. Paris's research interest is in borderline personality disorder. Over the past 2 years, he has conducted research on its causes and outcome. He has published more than 2 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and is the author of 8 previous books Dr. Paris is also an educator who has won awards for his teaching and is the former editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.