Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Research News

	‘Rising star’ explains his path from a broken bone arm wrestling to mental health discovery March 13, 2025 - Emerging researcher and psychiatry resident Dr. Nicholas Fabiano was profiled as a “rising star” in the new journal Brain Medicine.
	Trial tests different ways to reduce depression in Parkinson’s disease February 11, 2025 - “Psychotherapy is an important option for treating depression in Parkinson’s. Healthcare providers should consider recommending it alone or in combination with antidepressants."
	Non-invasive brain stimulation shows promise in reducing psychological distress in advanced illness April 8, 2024 - A small clinical trial at The Ottawa Hospital and Bruyère has shown for the first time that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) holds promise as a treatment for psychological distress in people with advanced illness.
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	Treatment-resistant depression: mouse study reveals surprising new insights January 29, 2024 - Dr. Paul Albert’s team found that not one, but two systems of neurotransmitters play a key role in mouse models of treatment-resistant depression.
	The Ottawa Hospital awarded nine grants worth $5.6 million from Canadian Institutes of Health Research February 3, 2020 - How can we treat depression when nothing else is working? How can heart growth be both good and bad? How can we increase patient participation in clinical trials? These are just a few of the big questions that researchers at The Ottawa Hospital will
	How a lucky accident helped spark a new era of depression research October 21, 2019 - It all started with one lucky accident. In the late 1980’s, Dr. Paul Albert was trying to isolate a gene that controls metabolism. Instead, he pulled out a gene that controls motivation and another that controls mood. These two genes became the subje
	Depression linked to “junk DNA” in the serotonin receptor gene November 21, 2018 - The human genome is thought to be 75 to 90 percent meaningless “junk DNA”, but researchers are increasingly finding that some of this junk may actually do something important. For example, new research led by Dr. Paul Albert and Dr. Eitan Friedman sh
	First responders to get mental health help at new research clinic October 31, 2018 - Recognizing the mental health needs of first responders, the City of Ottawa is championing a new study led by researchers at The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa. The team will launch Canada’s first research-based mental health clinic for
	Antidepressants and exercise in stroke recovery: surprising results from new mouse study March 2, 2018 - Exercise and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are effective in treating certain kinds of depression, but little research has tested them together in post-stroke depression, which affects 20 to 80 percent of stroke survivors. Drs. Pau
	Dr. Paul Albert recognized for ground-breaking discoveries in mental health July 11, 2017 - Dr. Paul Albert has received the top research award from the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology (the Heinz Lehmann Award) for his “outstanding and innovative research” in mental health. Nearly 30 years ago, Dr. Albert performed the fir
	New model may lead to better treatments for depression after stroke September 14, 2016 - Dr. Paul Albert and his team have developed a new animal model to help test treatments for depression after stroke. Between 20 to 80 percent of stroke patients will be diagnosed with depression, which greatly impacts both their quality of life an

Researchers

Name	Scientific appointment	Diseases, conditions and populations of interest	Research and clinical approaches
Albert, Paul PhD	Senior Scientist (NS)	Mental health, Vascular cognitive impairment, Anxiety, Depression, Intellectual disabilities, Parkinson's, Schizophrenia, Stroke, Suicide	Basic research, Epigenetics, Exercise, Gene expression, Translational research, Disease models, Epigenetics, Genetics, Imaging, Molecular and cellular biology, Optogenetics, Transgenic/knockout models
Chen, Hsiao-Huei PhD	Senior Scientist (NS)	Aging, Autism, Dementia, Depression, Heart disease, Maternal and fetal health, Mental health, Tourette's, Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's, Anxiety, Diabetes, Obesity, Schizophrenia, Stroke, Vascular, heart and metabolic disease	Disease models, Drug development, Gene expression, Neuro-stimulation, Optogenetics, Transgenic/knockout models, Basic research, Molecular and cellular biology, Translational research
Hatcher, Simon BSc MBBS MMedSc MD FRCPC FRANZCP MRCPsych	Scientist (NS)	Anxiety, Brain and neuromuscular disease, COVID-19, First Nations, Inuit and Métis Health, Health equity, Mental health, Traumatic brain injury, Depression, Health in disadvantaged peoples, Suicide	Clinical research, Digital and mobile health, Health economics, Health professional behaviour change, Health research methods, Health services research, Health technology, Knowledge translation and implementation research, Patient engagement, Prevention, Public health, Qualitative methods, Clinical trials, Cluster randomized trials, Epidemiology, Psychology, Systematic reviews
Hutton, Brian MSc, PhD	Senior Scientist (MIR)	Addiction, Anxiety, Breast cancer, Depression, Health equity, Health in disadvantaged peoples, Maternal and fetal health, Mental health, Population health, Suicide, Cancer	Clinical research, Cohort studies, Epidemiology, Health research methods, Health services research, Patient safety, Public health, Rapid reviews, Biostatistics, Clinical trials, Systematic reviews
MacPherson, Paul PhD, MD, FRCPC	Scientist (MIR)	Anxiety, Depression, Gay men's health, HIV, Infectious disease, Men's health, Sexually transmitted infections	Behaviour, Cohort studies, Epidemiology, Health promotion, Health services research, Knowledge translation and implementation research, Prevention, Psychology, Qualitative methods, Surveys
Poulin, Patricia C. Psych.	Associate Scientist (NS)	Addiction, Anxiety, Cancer, Chronic pain, Depression, Health equity, Musculoskeletal conditions, Pain	Anesthesiology, Behaviour, Biomarkers, Clinical research, Clinical trials, Emergency medicine, Epidemiology, Health professional behaviour change, Health services research, Knowledge translation and implementation research, Palliative care, Patient decision aids, Patient safety, Peri-operative medicine, Pragmatic trials, Psychology, Qualitative methods, Quality Improvement, Systematic reviews
Ramsay, Timothy PhD	Senior Scientist (MIR)	Addiction, Alzheimer's, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Anxiety, Ataxia, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Autism, Bipolar, Brain and neuromuscular disease, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Colorectal cancer, Concussion, Cystic fibrosis, Dementia, Depression, First Nations, Inuit and Métis Health, HIV, Immigrant and refugee health, Influenza, Kidney disease, Lung cancer, Macular degeneration, Men's health, Multiple sclerosis, Muscular dystrophy, Myasthenia gravis, Obesity, Ovarian cancer, Parkinson's, Pulmonary hypertension, Septic shock, Spinal cord injury	Artificial intelligence and data science, Behaviour, Biomaterials, Biostatistics, Cell therapy, Clinical decision rules, Clinical research, Clinical trials, Cohort studies, Critical care, Drug development, Emergency medicine, Epidemiology, Health professional behaviour change, Health promotion, Health research methods, Health services research, Health technology, Immunization, Immunotherapy, Palliative care, Patient decision aids, Pharmacology, Pharmacy, Prevention, Psychology, Psychometrics, Public health, Qualitative methods, Quality Improvement, Regenerative medicine, Rehabilitation, Risk assessment, Shared decision making, Surgery, Surveys, Systematic reviews, Transfusions, Translational research, Transplantation, Viral therapy
Santos, Marlise MD (FRCPC), MSc, MPH	Clinician Investigator (NS)	Alzheimer's, Anxiety, Ataxia, Autoimmune disease, Autoimmune diseases of the nervous system, Blood cancer, Brain and neuromuscular disease, Brain cancer, Cancer, Concussion, Dementia, Depression, Global health, Head and neck cancer, Health equity, Health in disadvantaged peoples, Infectious disease, Intellectual disabilities, Multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, Population health, Sickle cell anemia, Spinal cord injury, Stroke, Subarachnoid hemorrhage, Thrombosis / thromboembolism, Traumatic brain injury, Traumatic injuries, Vascular cognitive impairment, Vascular, heart and metabolic disease	Artificial intelligence and data science, Basic research, Behaviour, Biostatistics, Cancer biotherapeutics, Clinical decision rules, Clinical research, Clinical trials, Cohort studies, Critical care, Epidemiology, Health economics, Health research methods, Health services research, Health technology, Imaging, Patient safety, Pragmatic trials, Prevention, Public health, Qualitative methods, Quality Improvement, Shared decision making, Surgery, Surveys, Systematic reviews
Solmi, Marco MD, PhD, Psychiatrist	Clinician Investigator (NS)	Addiction, Anxiety, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Autism, Bipolar, Dementia, Depression, Mental health, Schizophrenia, Suicide	Clinical research, Clinical trials, Cluster randomized trials, Cohort studies, Epidemiology, Health research methods, Neuro-stimulation, Pharmacology, Pragmatic trials, Surveys, Systematic reviews
Walker, Lisa PhD, C.Psych	Clinician Investigator (NS)	Anxiety, Autoimmune disease, Autoimmune diseases of the nervous system, Brain and neuromuscular disease, Dementia, Depression, Mental health, Multiple sclerosis	Behaviour, Biomarkers, Clinical research, Exercise, Imaging, Psychology, Psychometrics, Rehabilitation, Stem cells, Systematic reviews, Translational research

Related Resources

Mental health research at The Ottawa Hospital

Neuroscience Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Clinical Trials

The following list of clinical trials is pulled from ClinicalTrials.gov using the search terms "Depression” and “Ottawa Hospital.” More advanced search options are available. If you find a clinical trial that interests you, you can bring the information to the next appointment with your care team and ask if you are eligible for the study. If so, they may be able to refer you to the study team. Visit ohri.ca/patients to learn more about participating in research and clinical trials.

Note that ClinicalTrials.gov is hosted by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and is only available in English. Please note that we cannot guarantee a response from the person listed in the ‘Contact’ column.

Publications

The following research publications are pulled from PubMed using the search terms "Depression" and "Ottawa Hospital", with publication date of 2020 or later. More advanced search options are available. Note that PubMed is hosted by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and is only available in English.

From Doubt to Diagnosis: Canadian Patient Perspectives on a Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Diagnosis.
2025-06-01

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictive measures on overall mental and physical health and well-being, specific psychopathologies and emotional states in representative adult Greek population: Results from the largest multi-wave, online national survey in Greece (COH-FIT).
2025-06-01

Evaluation of the virtual care experience for persons in prospective cohorts with HIV during the COVID pandemic.
2025-05-01

Atypical depression and emotion dysregulation: Clinical and psychopathological features.
2025-05-01

A Brief Report on Sex-Specific Differences in Persistent Depression, Anxiety, and Loneliness Among Canadian Veterans During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
2025-04-23

Motor, affective, cognitive, and perceptual symptom changes over time in individuals with Parkinson's disease who develop freezing of gait.
2025-04-08

Efficacy and tolerability of antidepressants in individuals suffering from physical conditions and depressive disorders: network meta-analysis.
2025-04-04

Exercise as a transdiagnostic intervention for improving mental health: An umbrella review.
2025-04-01

Collaborative Outcomes Study on Health and Functioning During Infection Times (COH-FIT): Global and Risk-Group Stratified Course of Well-Being and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Adolescents.
2025-04-01

Severe neck pain among patients with degenerative cervical myelopathy: an observational study from the Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network.
2025-03-26

View more on PubMed