John Lyons

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the Pritzker School of Medicine of the University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois, United States

About

Since I received my doctorate in 1982 I have worked in five different academic settings. First I was at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine for 24 years were I founded the Mental Health Services and Policy Program and left as a tenured Professor of Psychiatry & Medicine. I spent six years at a Professor of Psychology and the inaugural endowed chair of Child and Youth Mental Health at the University of Ottawa and the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). In 2014 I became and Senior Policy Fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago followed by an appointment as the Director of the Center for Innovation in Population Health at the University of Kentucky. As of 2026, I am happy to be back in Chicago in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences at the University of Chicago. Throughout the past four five year, I have worked to help make helping systems more about helping and the best interests of people seeking help and a bit less about the system itself and who gets the money.

Experience

  • Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences at University of Chicago
    Dec 2025 - Present · 7 mos

  • University of Kentucky (12 yrs)
    • Director, Center for Innovations in Population Health
      Aug 2019 - Present · 6 yrs 11 mos

    • Senior Policy Fellow
      Jul 2014 - Sep 2019 · 5 yrs 3 mos

      I lead a group committed to ensuring that public human serving systems make practice and policy decisions fully informed on the best interests of the people that we serve. We are committed to the use of Transformational Collaborative Outcomes Management to help work towards this vision.

  • Professor of Public Health at Center for Innovation in Population Health
    Aug 2019 - Dec 2025 · 6 yrs 5 mos

  • Endowed Chair of Child and Youth Mental Health Research at University of Ottawa
    Jul 2008 - Jun 2014 · 6 yrs

  • Professor at Northwestern University
    Jun 1984 - May 2014 · 30 yrs