Dr. Ray Blanchard

Biography

Ray Blanchard is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He is the Head of Clinical Sexology Services at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. He received his A.B. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967 and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1973. Blanchard was awarded the Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship at Dalhousie University, where he investigated learning processes in animals. He began his career as a clinical psychologist at the Ontario Correctional Institute in 1976 and joined the Gender Identity Clinic at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, now part of CAMH, in 1980. His research has focused on transsexualism and various aspects of gender identity disorders. In 1995, he became the head of the newly established Clinical Sexology Services at CAMH, which includes the Gender Identity Clinic and the Kurt Freund Laboratory. He has served as President of the International Academy of Sex Research and was involved with the Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Work Group for the DSM-5. Blanchard has received the Significant Achievement Award from the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers in 2010. His research interests include phallometric diagnosis, gender identity disorders, sexual orientation, and paraphilias, particularly examining the fraternal birth order effect and its implications for male sexual orientation.

Research Interests