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Yoram Barak is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago's Dunedin School of Medicine, where he contributes to teaching and research in old-age psychiatry and prevention. He concurrently serves as a consultant psychogeriatrician at Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand Southern, focusing on the clinical assessment and management of late-life mental health conditions. Barak earned his MD from Tel Aviv University in 1987 and holds affiliations with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. Prior to his appointment at Otago, he was an assistant professor of Psychiatry at the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, and director of the Psychogeriatric Department at Abarbanel Mental Health Center in Israel. His career emphasizes bridging clinical practice and research in neuropsychiatry, with expertise in neuropsychopharmacology, mental illness treatment, comorbidity, and preventive psychiatry.
Barak's research centers on the prevention, assessment, and treatment of late-life psychiatric disorders, including dementia, schizophrenia in older adults, elder abuse detection, nutrition's role in brain health, and behavioral symptoms in dementia. He authored the book Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease: Personal Responsibility, published in 2013 by Nova Science Publishers. Key publications include the highly cited works such as Cerebrospinal cytokine levels in patients with acute depression (Neuropsychobiology, 1999), Animal-assisted therapy for elderly schizophrenic patients: A one-year controlled trial (American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2001), and Double-blind, controlled trial of inositol treatment of depression (American Journal of Psychiatry, 1995). More recent contributions encompass Effects of changing criteria on improving interRAI assessment for elder abuse: analysis of a national dataset from Aotearoa New Zealand (BMJ Open, 2024), Are Baby Boomers hazardous drinkers as they age? An exploratory interRAI study (2025), and Successful Ageing: Perception of Older Adults in Otago, New Zealand (2025). In recognition of his impact, Barak received the 2025 Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age Prize from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists for outstanding project work on elder abuse assessment. His scholarship has influenced clinical practices in psychogeriatrics, garnering thousands of citations across neuropsychiatry and geriatric mental health.
University of Otago researchers find metformin associated with reduced prostate cancer risk in type 2 diabetes patients, with implications for New Zealand higher education and health research.
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