Working alongside the President to develop the vision and scientific direction for University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR). Member of the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre Senior Leadership Team, the Integrated Research Committee of the IMHR Board of Directors, and the IMHR Scientific Advisory Council. Key roles include development and implementation of new strategic research plan for the hospital and research institute, enhance partnerships with the broader academic and healthcare community, contribute to campaign activities with the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health and set priorities for accelerating discovery and integrating research and care.

Using clinical neuroscience approaches, our goal is to better characterize depression for improved treatment outcomes. Ongoing studies investigate the biological underpinnings and consequences of depression, burnout, and suicide using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and peripheral biomarkers, test the efficacy of ketamine to treat depression and suicidal thoughts in patients resistant to other forms of treatment, and harness electronic medical record data to identify and predict risk for suicidal behaviour.

Cross-appointment. Affiliation provides graduate student supervisory privileges within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. Graduated 2 MSc students (Neuroscience), 2 honours BSc students (Translational and Molecular Medicine and Biomedical Sciences). Currently supervising 2 PhD students (1 MD/PhD Neuroscience, 1 PhD Biochemistry). Served on 2 thesis advisory committees, 1 comprehensive exam committee.

Primary appointment within Faculty of Medicine. Teaching responsibilities in the postgraduate medical education (PGME) include neuroscience sessions for first year residents (PGY1s). Supervised 4 psychiatry resident scholarly projects. Member of the Department of Psychiatry Research Committee.

Leadership position, voting member of the Department of Psychiatry Executive Committee. Led development of the Clinical Psychiatry Concentration for the new Clinical Sciences and Translational Medicine (CTM) graduate program. Developed terms of reference, membership, and launch of the departmental Research Committee. Led organization of the annual research day conference. Mentored junior faculty in developing academic plans to increase research output and apply for academic promotion.

Affiliation provides graduate student supervisory privileges within the Department of Neuroscience. Successfully supervised 3 MSc students and 5 honours BSc students. Served on 3 thesis advisory committees, and 1 comprehensive exam committee.

Developed and taught university courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the Department of Neuroscience. Seminar in Clinical Neuroscience and Psychiatry Research, Special Topics in Neuroscience- Neuroimaging (graduate and undergraduate sections), Neurobiology of Depression, Biological Foundations of Behaviour (four sections), and Neuroimaging. Supervised 11 graduate teaching assistants (TAs).

Junior scientist position. Funded research projects examined clinical, biological, and neuroimaging correlates of suicidal ideation and behaviours in patients with treatment-resistant depression, and identification of sex-specific psychosocial and clinical risk factors for suicide attempts in psychiatric inpatients.

Clinical pharmacology. Contributed to Canada's first randomized controlled trial using subanaesthetic dose ketamine for treatment-resistant depression. Lead author of influential manuscripts published in American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuropsychopharmacology.

Mood Disorders Research Unit. Contributed to clinical trials investigating the effectiveness of various pharmacological strategies for treatment-resistant major depressive disorder. Functioned as an independent clinical rater and administered cognitive assessments. Compiled and managed research data and planned and executed statistical analyses. Knowledge translation activities included authorship of abstracts and manuscripts, preparation and presentation of research findings at scientific conferences. Contributed to protocol development, grant writing, and budget preparation. Editorial assistant on two international pharmacology journals.

Investigated the effects of sustained remission on brain structure in patients with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder using a prospective, longitudinal study design. Also researched the effect of monoamine-related gene polymorphisms on hippocampal volume in depressed patients and healthy individuals. Thesis integrated psychiatry, neuroimaging, genetics and pharmacology. Analytical techniques used included cross-sectional and longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analyses conducted in FreeSurfer, FSL, and SPM, and statistical analyses in SPSS.

Schizophrenia Research Unit. Investigated the neurobiology of memory deficits in schizophrenia using behavioural and functional neuroimaging techniques. Duties included literature review, authorship of grant applications, research protocols, abstracts, posters and manuscripts, addressing requirements for reporting and maintaining compliance with on-going grants and preparation of progress reports for granting agencies, research ethics submissions, recruitment of research participants, data collection, statistical analyses, monitoring study progress and project expenditures, and conducting clinical and neuropsychological assessment of study participants. Neuroimaging related responsibilities included the methodological design of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, MRI data acquisition, analyses, and interpretation.

Department of Surgical Sciences and School of Veterinary Medicine. Fish parasitology and aquatic invertebrate research conducted in the Parasitology Department at the US Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Responsibilities included fish, zooplankton and protozoan husbandry, experimental parasite transmission, handling, anaesthetising, measuring and dissecting fish, radiographic and histological work, water chemistry analysis, keeping laboratory records and computer data entry and organisation. Responsible for training and supervising technicians. Also responsible for identifying aquatic invertebrates in samples collected from the Lower Colorado River, Arizona for a technical publication on insect diversity and species composition.

Fish Sciences Department. Responsible for the compilation and analysis of data pertaining to the Indigenous salmon restoration programme in the Umatilla River, Oregon. First author of a published peer-reviewed comprehensive technical case study. Assisted with the preparation of grant proposals. Field research included Pacific Salmon sampling at dams along the Columbia River, Washington.