Researcher, Douglas Research Centre
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University
Psychiatrist, Douglas Institute, CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal
Expertise: Suicide, depressive disorders, treatment-resistant major depressive disorder, neurobiology, psychiatric genetics, epigenetics
Profile
I am a clinician-scientist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University, leading research focused on the neural underpinnings of social processes underlying youth mood disorders and suicidality. My work integrates neuroimaging, ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and clinical trial methodologies to advance personalized interventions for youth depression.
I currently serve as the Site Principal Investigator (PI) for the McGill arm of the TIDE (Treatment Interrupts Depression Early) trial, a multi-site randomized controlled trial (RCT) investigating comparative treatment outcomes in first-episode depression. In this role, I oversee clinical recruitment, biomarker collection, and EEG-based investigations to identify neural predictors of treatment response. Additionally, I am actively collaborating with Tel-Aviv University on an EMA-based study examining real-time social stressors and suicidal risk in youth, further expanding my work on social-affective dysfunction in mood disorders.
Beyond my leadership in TIDE, I manage a newly established research lab at the Douglas Institute, where I supervise a growing team of three research assistants (one full-time and two part-time). My research program extends across multiple funded projects in youth mental health, including collaborations on large-scale investigations of biorhythms in bipolar disorder (TREAT-BD), heart-brain connections in serious mental illness, and longitudinal trajectories of youth-onset psychiatric disorders across four Canadian provinces. These projects integrate longitudinal neurobiological, cardiovascular, and socioeconomic data to refine risk stratification and intervention strategies.
Through these multidisciplinary collaborations, my research aims to bridge basic neuroscience and clinical psychiatry, enhancing early detection and optimizing treatment selection for youth at risk of suicidality. With my experience in neuroimaging, EEG biomarkers, EMA, and clinical trial implementation, I am committed to advancing precision psychiatry approaches to improve outcomes for youth facing early-onset depression and suicidality.
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