U of A psychiatry chair quits amid sex allegations

The University of Alberta's new head of psychiatry has resigned his position less than two weeks after CBC News revealed he faces an allegation of sexual misconduct involving a female patient in Ontario.

Dr. Claudio de Novaes Soares, incoming chair of the department of psychiatry, resigned effective immediately, according to a letter to university staff on Monday.

Soares was to assume the role of chair on Sept. 1, but was placed on a leave before he could start.

Documents obtained by CBC News showed the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons is investigating an allegation that Soares had sexual relations with a woman who was a patient between November 2007 and May 2009. At that time, he was a professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.

A date for the hearing has not yet been scheduled and none of the claims have been proven by the Ontario college.

Soares' departure was announced by the dean of the faculty of medicine and dentistry, Dr. D. Douglas Miller, in a letter to staff and colleagues Monday.

Dr. Glen Baker, currently director of the neurochemical research unit at the University of Alberta, has been appointed interim chair. 

Baker served as department chair from 2000 to 2005 and acting chair from 2005 to 2006.

Kathryn Clarke, a spokeswoman for the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons, said Soares no longer has a licence to practise in Ontario. He is not currently listed as having a licence or permit to practise in Alberta, athough he would not have necessarily needed one for his position as a chair at the University of Alberta, which would have been an administrative job.