Neil Seeman
{{Short description|Canadian author, entrepreneur, academic, lawyer and mental health advocate}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Neil Seeman
| image = Neil Seeman 2023 06 19 - high res pic.jpg
| caption = Speaking at Upper Canada College, June 2023
| alma_mater = Queen's University at Kingston (BA), University of Toronto (JD), Harvard University (MPH)
| spouse = Sarit Goldman-Seeman
| parents = Philip Seeman, Mary V. Seeman
| children = David, Dori
}}
Neil Seeman is a Canadian author on mental health and health policy topics, book publisher, and Internet entrepreneur.{{cite web |title=Meet Neil Seeman |url=https://canvasrebel.com/meet-neil-seeman/ |website=CanvasRebel |access-date=December 16, 2023}}{{cite web |title=Neil Seeman |url=https://ihpme.utoronto.ca/faculty-profile/neil-seeman/ |website=University of Toronto|access-date=March 22, 2025}} His books and essays seek to describe mental health stigma in business and society as seen through his experiences as an entrepreneur and public health researcher.{{cite web|title=Making Big Data More Inclusive |url=https://www.dlsph.utoronto.ca/2021/05/05/34018/ |website=University of Toronto|date=6 May 2021 |access-date=December 16, 2023}}
Education
Neil Seeman attended Upper Canada College from 1984 to 1988. He obtained a BA (Hons.) from Queen's University in 1992, a JD from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1995, and a Master's of Public Health from Harvard University in 1998.{{cite web |title=Entrepreneurial Mental Health and the Future of Prosperity with Neil Seeman |url=https://www.ucc.on.ca/events/community/speaking-of |website=Upper Canada College |publisher=UCC |access-date=December 16, 2023}}{{cite web |title=Neil Seeman Biography of Record |url=https://canadianwhoswho.ca/search_results.php?keywords=¤t=current&archived=archived&living=living&deceased=deceased&searchAll=searchAll&lastname=Seeman&firstname=Neil&dob_city=&city=&language=&education=&credentials=&occupation=&fromSelf=true |website=Canadian Who's Who|access-date=December 16, 2023}}
Career
=Work in media and health policy=
In 1998, Seeman was a founding member of the editorial board of the National Post newspaper. In 2006, he co-founded the Health Strategy Innovation Cell at Massey College in the University of Toronto. Seeman is the co-author of Psyche in the Lab: Celebrating Brain Science in Canada (Hogrefe & Huber). He is the co-author of XXL: Obesity and the Limits of Shame (University of Toronto Press) which was a shortlist finalist for the Donner Prize in 2011.{{cite web|title=Past Winners 2011 |url=https://donnerbookprize.com/past-winners-2011/ |website=Donner Foundation|access-date=December 16, 2023}}{{cite web |first1=Matt|last1=Ridley |title=Free-Market Solutions for Overweight Americans |work=Wall Street Journal |date=April 2011 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704471904576230692570676256 |access-date=December 16, 2023}} The authors' concept of "healthy living vouchers" in XXL was criticized for being impractical and too reliant on state intervention to be effective as a policy tool to curtail the obesity epidemic.{{cite web |first1=Tyler|last1=Cowan |title=Healthy living vouchers: will they work? |url=https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/04/healthy-living-vouchers-will-they-work.html |website=Marginal Revolution|date=3 April 2011 |access-date=December 16, 2023}}
=Work in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial mental health=
In 2008, Seeman invented and patented random domain intercept technology, a form of Web intercept survey.{{cite web |last1=US Patent & Trademark Office |first1=Seeman Neil Laurence |title=Method of Obtaining a Representative Online Polling Sample |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US20080201200A1/en |website=Google Patents |access-date=November 7, 2024}} This led Seeman to found the Big Data firm RIWI in 2009.{{cite web |last1=Kirby |first1=Jason |title=How dormant websites could lead to a better understanding of the COVID-19 crisis |url=https://macleans.ca/economy/how-dormant-websites-could-lead-to-a-better-understanding-of-the-covid-19-crisis/ |website=Macleans |date=8 May 2020 |access-date=December 16, 2023}} He was CEO of RIWI, which in 2020 went public on the TSX Venture Exchange, until September, 2021.{{cite web|title=Board of Directors - Neil Seeman |url=https://riwi.com/team/neil-seeman/ |website=RIWI |access-date=December 16, 2023}} In May 2023, he published Accelerated Minds: Unlocking the Fascinating, Inspiring, and Often Destructive Impulses that Drive the Entrepreneurial Brain.{{cite web |title=Accelerated Minds: Unlocking the Fascinating, Inspiring, and Often Destructive Impulses that Drive the Entrepreneurial Brain |url=https://nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/accelerated-minds-unlocking-fascinating-inspiring-often-destructive-impulses-drive-entrepreneurial-brain-bookbite/42575/ |website=NextBigIdeaClub Magazine|access-date=December 16, 2023}} Accelerated Minds was released in Japan in June 2025 under the title Entrepreneurship Addiction by Toyo Keizai.{{cite web |title=起業中毒 (Entrepreneurship Addiction) |url=https://str.toyokeizai.net/books/9784492503591/ |publisher=Toyo Keizai |access-date=30 June 2025}} In November 2023, he co-founded Sutherland House Experts, for which he is Publisher.{{cite web |title=New Co-publishing Model, Sutherland House Experts, is Turning the Page on Book Publishing |url=https://sutherlandhouseexperts.com/press-release-nov-2023 |website=Sutherland House Experts|access-date=December 16, 2023}}
=Research involvement in mental health and health policy=
He was appointed a Fields Institute Fellow in 2022 by the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences.{{cite web|title=Introducing the 2022 Fields Institute Fellows |url=http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/news/Introducing-2022-Fields-Institute-Fellows-0 |website=University of Toronto |date=20 June 2022 |access-date=December 16, 2023}} He is a Senior Fellow of Massey College and a Senior Fellow and associate professor in the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.{{cite web |title=University of Toronto Faculty Directory |url=https://ihpme.utoronto.ca/faculty-profile/neil-seeman/ |website=University of Toronto |access-date=March 22, 2025}} He serves as Senior Academic Advisor to the Investigative Journalism Bureau at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and as knowledge translation lead to the Health Informatics, Visualization, and Equity (HIVE) Lab at the University of Toronto.{{cite web |title=Investigative Journalism Bureau and Seeman family partner to advance mental health journalism |url=https://ijb.utoronto.ca/news/investigative-journalism-bureau-and-seeman-family-partner-to-advance-mental-health-journalism/ |website=University of Toronto |date=19 July 2021 |access-date=December 17, 2023}}{{cite web |first1=Neil|last1=Seeman |title=HIVE Lab - Neil Seeman |url=https://www.hivelab-uoft.ca/team/nseeman |website=University of Toronto |access-date=December 17, 2023}}
Personal life
Seeman is the son of dopamine scientist Philip Seeman and women's mental health researcher Mary V. Seeman.{{cite web|title=Researcher Philip Seeman shed new light on biology of schizophrenia |work=The Globe and Mail |date=27 January 2021 |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-researcher-philip-seeman-shed-new-light-on-biology-of-schizophrenia/ |publisher=Globe & Mail |access-date=December 16, 2023}} He is married to Sarit Goldman-Seeman and is the father of Dori Seeman and David Seeman. {{cite web |title=Entrepreneurial Mental Health and the Future of Prosperity with Neil Seeman |url=https://www.ucc.on.ca/events/community/speaking-of |website=Upper Canada College |publisher=UCC |access-date=December 16, 2023}}
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Upper Canada College alumni
Category:Queen's University at Kingston alumni
Category:University of Toronto Faculty of Law alumni