July 2006 - Institut de Recherche en Santé Mentale

Volume II, Issue IV– July, 2006
Continued Funding Success!!!
The uOttawa IMHR is delighted to announce that the COE-Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and
Youth Mental Health at CHEO has awarded to Co-principal Investigators: Dr. M. Flament & Dr. R. Flewelling
and Collaborators: Dr. A. Buccholz, Dr. K. Henderson, Dr. G. Goldfield, Dr. K. Matheson, and Dr.
G. McVey, an award of $150,000 for their grant, "Examining a Biopsychosocial Model of the Development
of Body Image, Eating Behaviours and Weight Control in Adolescence: an Ontario school-based study.
This funding will facilitate investigation of the mechanisms that shape adolescents' body image, eating behaviour
and weight, and the risk factors for eating disorders and obesity. This study has 2 objectives; to investigate
the biological, environmental, and individual factors contributing to body image, eating behaviours, and
Dr. Flament
body weight in adolescent girls and boys; to test a biopsychosocial model integrating these factors to prospectively predict
healthy or unhealthy eating and weight in adolescent girls and boys.
Dr. Xia Zhang Awarded CFI Funding
Congratulations to Dr. Xia Zhang who was recently
awarded a Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
Leaders Opportunity Fund that will be used to procure
equipment to further his investigation into the
brain mechanisms contributing to drug abuse, and
how they may relate to mental illness. In addition,
Dr. Zhang holds a prestigious CIHR New Investigator
award and is the Principal Investigator on three
peer reviewed grants from NSERC, CIHR, and the
Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada.
uOttawa IMHR Mission, Vision and Values
In This Issue...
• IMHR Students Win Awards
• Gambling Research
• Visitors to Forensic Research
Unit
• Focus on Research: Youth
Psychiatry Research Unit
• IMHR in the News
• Farewell to Dr. Luc Boulay
Over the past year, the uOttawa Institute of Mental Health Research, in collaboration with its Board of Directors, Research
Unit Directors and Scientific Advisory Board have set about defining mission, vision and values statements. These statements
encompass both the broad mandate of the uOttawa IMHR, as well as its shared goal with the ROHCG of becoming a centre of
excellence in the treatment and research of mental-illness and the promotion of mental-health.
Mission - Create scientific knowledge to improve mental health and well-being locally and globally.
Vision - To be a premier research institute with national and international centre of excellence status that continuously
improves mental health and well-being through leadership, collaborative discoveries and innovation in research,
patient care and education.
Values - The core values of the IMHR are excellence, collaboration, integrity, respect, compassion, wellness and
equity.

Dr. Goff
First Friday Lecture
The uOttawa Institute of Mental Health
Research (IMHR) held a research lecture
on Friday, June 2, 2006 in the Royal
Ottawa Hospital Auditorium featuring.
Dr. Donald Goff, Director of the Schizophrenia
Clinical and Research Program
at the Massachusetts General Hospital
and Associate Professor of Psychiatry,
Harvard Medical School. His talk,
"Glutamatergic Treatments in
Schizophrenia" focused on a number
of topics including an introduction to glutamatergic model of
schizophrenia, a discussion of various therapeutic agents that
target the glycine site of the NMDA receptor and finally, results
of studies using lamotrigine and "ampakines" in the
treatment of symptoms associated with schizophrenia.
For the last 26 years, the Roger Stretch
Award has been presented by the uOttawa
School of Psychology in recognition
of excellence for an Honours Thesis.
This year’s nominees included Meaghan
Cosgrove (winner), who was supervised
by Dr. Verner Knott, Director of the
Clinical Neuroelectrophysiology Laboratory
and Andrée-Anne Ledoux, who is
Andreé-Anne Ledoux supervised by Dr. Patrice Boyer, Director
of the Schizophrenia Research Unit.
Meaghan Cosgrove plans to participate in volunteer work for
the next year as well as write the MCAT, and then hopes to
attend Guelph University to study Veterinary Medicine.
Andrée-Anne Ledoux will be starting her MA/PhD in Psychology
at uOttawa this September under the continued supervision
of Dr. Boyer.
Dr. Romero-Urcely & Dr. Fedoroff
IMHR Students Win Awards
Gambling Research
A unique partnership of consumers, patients
and families (Mood Disorders Society
of Canada - MDSC) and mental
health researchers (Canadian Network
for Mood and Anxiety Treatments -
CANMAT) has been established to investigate
gambling in patients seeking treatment
for mood disorders.
Dr. Jean-Claude Bisserbe, Clinical Director
of the Mood Disorders Unit at the
Dr. Bisserbe
Royal Ottawa Hospital, consecutively with six other outpatient
Mood Disorder Clinics across Canada and the United
States will participate. This study provides an opportunity to
assess the prevalence of problem gambling and pathological
gambling in Mood Disorder populations and to highlight the
comorbidities that are associated with gambling in men and
women.
Also among Dr. Knott’s students, Anne
Millar, has been awarded the PD
McCormack Memorial Scholarship for
2006-2007. It is valued at $10,000 and
is awarded to graduate students in the
Department of Psychology at Carleton
University who hold a scholarship from
NSERC, CIHR, or OGS. Anne was
also awarded an OGS Scholarship worth
Meghan Cosgrove
$15,000. In addition, Crystal Villeneuve
has been awarded a CIHR Scholarship valued at
$17,500. Crystal will begin her M.Sc. in Cognitive Science at
Carleton University in September.
Those who wish to contribute to the Roger Stretch Memorial
Fund may send donations to The Director, The School of
Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada, K1N 6N5.
International Visitor to IMHR Forensic Research Unit
The Forensic Research Unit of the IMHR in conjunction with the Integrated Forensic Program,
hosted a week long visit by Dr. Romero- Urcelay. The purpose of his visit was to obtain
advise and possible collaboration concerning research into the assessment and treatment of
men with severe and dangerous personality disorders at one of the most famous forensic psychiatric
hospitals in the world, Broadmoor, located in England. Dr. Romero-Urcelay commented
during his visit that when he and his staff began to do literature searches on assessment
and treatment of difficult cases, one place kept coming up in the literature: the Royal Ottawa
Hospital Sexual Behaviors Clinic (affiliated with the IMHR).
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Focus on research: Dr. Martine Flament and the Youth
Research Unit
The IMHR Youth Research Unit was
initiated in January 2003. The main
areas of research are eating disorders
(ED), obsessive-compulsive disorder
(OCD), other anxiety disorders, and
mood disorders in children and adolescents.
The program of research aims at
identifying the risk and resilience factors
involved in the onset and maintenance
of these disorders, and investigating
the mechanisms of action of
Dr. Martine Flament effective treatments. Research is community-based
(e.g., study of risk and
protective factors for eating and weight disorders in high
school students), or based on the assessment and treatment of
referred patients (e.g., biological and psychological correlates
of anxiety disorders in adolescents; effects of anti-obsessional
On June 14, 2006, commentary by Dr. Zul
Merali, President and CEO of the uOttawa
IMHR was featured in a story in the Ottawa
Sun concering elevated levels of stress
reported by residents of the Outaouais. Dr.
Merali elaborated on the negative
implications of chronic stress for health
outcomes, mental-illness.
Dr. Merali
As well, a variety of clinicians, researchers
and others from the IMHR and ROHCG including Dr. Diana
Koszycki, Research Unit Director of the uOttawa IMHR
Stress and Anxiety Clinical Research Unit were featured in
the Ottawa Citizen as part of a series of articles accompanying
a recent Public Lecture Series presented by the Royal Ottawa
Hospital designed to diversify the image associated with the
Dr. Boulay
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IMHR in the News...
Farewell to Dr. Luc Boulay
medication on executive functions, metacognition and regional
brain activations). Through collaboration with international
agencies (World Psychiatric Association (WPA),
World Health Organization (WHO), French National Institute
for Health and Medical Research - the program also investigates
and promotes evidence-based treatment and prevention
strategies for mental disorders in children and adolescents).
Within the University of Ottawa Department of Psychiatry,
the Youth Research Unit has developed links with the Division
of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, which includes both
the ROH Clinical Youth Program and the Psychiatric Services
at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). The
Youth Research Unit tutors graduate and undergraduate students
from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University
Schools of Psychology.
ROHCG and mental illness and to appeal to
a wider audience.
Dr. Koszycki’s lecture, "Stress and the 21st
Century Woman" included a discussion of
stress and mental health, how women’s response
to stress differs from that of men and
finally, an overview of findings from her
Dr. Koszycki own research that pertain to women’s mental
health, including the impact of infertility on psychological
well-being.
Other speakers in this well-attended lecture series included
Dr. Marie-France Rivard, Grace McBide, Dr. Smitta Thatte,
Dr. Elliot Lee and Dr. John Telner.
After 14 years with the IMHR, Dr. Luc Boulay, Research Associate and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the
University of Ottawa has departed to pursue other opportunities and challenges. Most recently, Dr. Boulay
had collaborated extensively with Dr. Patrice Boyer, Research Director of the Schizophrenia Research Unit, on
a number of projects examining cognitive deficits in Schizophrenia using a combination of virtual reality technology
and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The IMHR would like to thank Dr. Boulay for his
contribution to the IMHR and ROHCG, as well as wish him well in his future endeavors.

Recent Publications, Presentations & Workshops
Blier, P. (2006). Editorial - Pregnancy, depression, antidepressants and breast-feeding. Rev Psychiatr Neurosci
2006;31(4):226-228
Publications
Blier, P. (2006). Psychopharmacology for the Clinician - Psychopharmacologie pratique Column - Treating
depression with selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors. Rev Psychiatr Neurosci 2006;31(4):288
Blier, P. (2006). Media pressure and patient care. J Psychopharmacol. 20, 469-70.
Blier, P. (2006). Dual Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors . Focus On Their Differences. International Journal
of Psychiatry In Clinical Practice 10 (Suppl. 2): 22-32, 2006.
Blier, P., Habib, R., & Flament, M. (2006). Pharmacotherapies in the Management of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Can J
Psychiatry, 51.
Blier, P., Saint-André, E., Hébert, C., De Montigny, C., Lavoie, N., & Debonnel G. (2006). Effects of Venlafaxine on
Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake in Healthy Volunteers. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology,
E.Published May 11.
Blier, P. & Tremblay, P. (2006). Physiologic mechanisms underlying the antidepressant discontinuation syndrome. J Clin Psychiatry,
67 (Suppl 4), 8-13.
Boulay, L.J., Phillips, J.L., Roy, P., Boyer, P. (2006). Using 2D and 3D navigation and fMRI to explore patterns of activation
in schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 59, 114S.
Brookes, N., Murata, L., & Tansey, M. (2006) Guiding Practice Development Using The Tidal Commitments. Journal Of Psychiatric
And Mental Health Nursing, 13, 460–463.
Holmes, D. & O’Byrne, P. (In Press). Bareback Sex and the Law: The Difficult Issue of HIV Status Disclosure. Journal of Psychosocial
Nursing & Mental Health Services.
Holmes, D., Perron, A., & O’Byrne, P. (In Press). Evidence, Virulence, and the Disappearance of Nursing Knowledge: A
Critique of the Evidence-Based Dogma. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing.
Knott, V., Scherling, C., Blais, C., Camarda,J., Fisher, D., Millar, A., McIntosh, F. (2006). Acute nicotine fails to alter
event-related potential or behavioral performance indices of auditory distraction in cigarette smokers. Nicotine and Tobacco Research,
8, 263-273.
Knott, V., Blais, C., Scherling, C., Camarda, J., Millar, A., Fisher, D., McIntosh, J. (2006). Neural effects of Nicotine during
Auditory Selective Attention in Smokers: An Event-Related Potential Study. Neuropsychobiology, 53, 115-126.
Maron, E., & Shlik, J. (2006). Serotonin function in panic disorder: important, but why? Neuropsychopharmacology, 31, 1-11.
Tharmalingam, S., King, N., De Luca, V., Rothe, C., Koszycki, D., Bradwejn, J., Macciardi, F., & Kennedy, J.L (2006).
Investigation of the Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptor 2 Gene in Panic Disorder, Psychiatric Genetics, 16, 93-97.
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Publications, Presentations & Workshops Cont’d
Blier, P. Colleguim International Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum (CINP) Symposium: Treatment-Resistant
Depression: Differential Diagnosis, and Newer Treatment Strategies. July 13, 2006
Presentations
Brookes, N., Craig, Y., & Sharif, F. University of Ottawa/Tau Gamma Annual Clinical Nursing Research
Conference Knowledge Transfer - Sharing the Knowledge. Sharing Care. Sharing the Knowledge of Nursing
Students’ Experience of Their Psychiatric and Mental Health Clinical Placement Ottawa, June 2006.
Boulay, L.J., Phillips, J.L., Roy, P. and Boyer, P. (2006). Using 2D and 3D navigation and fMRI to explore patterns of activation
in schizophrenia. Society of Biological Psychiatry 61st Annual Scientific Convention and Program, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada, May 18-20.
Boulay, L.J., Phillips, J.L., Roy, P., Smith, A., and Boyer, P. (2006). A pilot study using 2D navigation and fMRI to explore
patterns of activation in persons with schizophrenia. 13th Biennial Winter Workshop on Schizophrenia Research, Davos, Switzerland.
February 4-10.
Murata, L., Antonello, C., Robertson, C., Silverman, M., Cotaris, C., & Robertson, C. Many Faces of Diabetes: Best Practice
Across Settings and Populations Conference. A Multidisciplinary, Solution-Focused Diabetes Education
Group for Patients with Mental Illness. Ottawa June 2006
Murata, L., Ritchie, L., & Brookes, N. 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice.
Sigma Theta Tau International. Preparing Patients for Electroconvulsive Therapy: A Pilot Project. Montreal, Quebec, July
2006
Phillips, J.L., Ledoux, A.-A., Westmacott, R., Boulay, L.J. and Boyer, P. (2006). Episodic memory and functional outcome
in schizophrenia. 159th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 20-25.
Phillips, J.L., Ledoux, A.-A., Boulay, L.J., and Boyer, P. (2006). Relationship between reality distortion and episodic memory
impairment in patients with schizophrenia. 13th Biennial Winter Workshop on Schizophrenia Research, Davos, Switzerland.
February 4-10.
Ritchie, L. College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta. Innovative Nursing Approaches to Unhealthy Behaviours
in the Workplace. Edmonton, Alberta, April, 2006.
Tansey, M., Brookes, N., & Caldwell, C. University of Ottawa/Tau Gamma Annual Clinical Nursing Research Conference
Knowledge Transfer - Sharing the Knowledge Sharing the Care. Sharing knowledge: Building a Healthy Nursing Practice Environment
and Enhancing Nursing Practice. Ottawa, June 2006.
Tidal Model of Mental Health Recovery Consultations & Presentations
Brookes, N., Murata, L., & Li, C. consult to Nova Scotia Hospital, Dartmouth & Halifax Nova Scotia. June 15 & 16, 2006
Tansey, M. consult to Tertiary Mental Health, Interior Health Authority. British Columbia. June 5 & 6, 2006
Murata, L. consult with Jane Patterson, RN "An Ounce of Prevention" San Franscisco, California. July 11, 2006.
Koszycki, D. (2006). Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) Workshop for Mental Health Professionals, Cornwall
Community Hospital, June 7, 2006.
Workshops &
Appointments
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Grant Opportunities & Deadlines
A reminder that anyone wanting to improve their chances of having a successful review of their grant/funding application is
invited to submit their protocol for review to the scientific review committee. Interested applicants must allow 3-4 weeks for
the review to be completed. Please submit 6 copies of your proposal to the attention of Dr. Keith Busby, Research Ethics
Coordinator, in room 2055C of the Lady Grey Building if you are interested in this service.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Operating Grants in Neurosciences, Addiction and Mental Health: Registration packages are due
August 15th, 2006. Full applications are due September 15th, 2006
Research Synthesis Grant:Registration packages are due September 15th, 2006. Full applications are
due December 15th, 2006
Team Grant - Emerging: Knowledge Translation in Mental Health and Addiction: Randomized
Controlled Trial (RCT) Outline is due October 1st, Letter of intent is due November 1st
Ontario Mental Health Foundation
Research Project Grants: Applications are due September 22, 2006
Fellowships & Studentships:Applications are due November 3, 2006
National Alliance for Research of Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD)
2007 Young Investigator Award: Applications are due July 25, 2006.
2007 Staglin Award: Applications are due September, 2006.
The Physician’s Services Incorporated (PSI) Foundation
All Clinical Research, Medical Education Research & Development at the post M.D. level, Health Systems
Research, Community-Based Research and Resident Research applications are due August 31st, 2006.
The Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre
Applications for Level III research awards are now being accepted. Applications are due
August 11th, 2006. Visit www.gamblingresearch.org for more details.
National Institutes of Mental Health Research (NIMH)
For a full list of NIMH Neuroscience Funding opportunities go to:
http://neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov/funding.html.
The Brain Brief
http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/27129.html
Comments & Suggestions
The uOttawa Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR)
welcomes any suggestions as to how to make our newsletter
better and more informative. To submit suggestions, please
contact:
Dr. Owen Kelly
Phone: 613.722.6521 ext. 6727
Email: okelly@rohcg.on.ca
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