Department of Psychiatry Newsletter

MCGILL UNIVERSITY Department of Psychiatry Newsletter

SPRING * FALL * WINTER 2012

invite you to check our website ta, Trent Semeniuk, Hani Iskan- Message from the Chair (www.mcgill.ca/psychiatry) to dar, Enrique Lizondo, Toby learn more. Measham) have the challenging We continue to be a vibrant and task of ensuring that psychiatry productive department on every On the education front, we wel- maintains an important place in front. Picking up the thread from come Naguib Mechawar as the the clerkship so that medical stu- PLEASE NOTE: the last newsletter, our search first Associate Program Director dents are sufficiently prepared to and selection committees have Due to continuing for our Graduate Program. Dr. address mental-health problems been active. We enthusiastically renovations at the Mechawar will work closely with in their practices. A retreat is Ludmer R&T building, welcome Martin Gauthier as Marco Leyton whose leadership being held this fall, and our de- the Department of Chief of Child and Adolescent and commitment have led to the partment will be well represent- Psychiatry’s Admin- Psychiatry at the Montreal Chil- istration Office will immense success of our graduate ed. dren’s Hospital and as University continue to be located program. at the Hugessen Director of the Finally, I want to House until spring Division of Child congratulate Gus- 2013. and Adolescent tavo Turecki and Psychiatry. In Fabrice Jollant for addition, we are the successful pleased to an- launch of the resi- nounce the dent research nomination of track. Several ac- Lila Amirali as tivities took place Clinical Director including a stim- INSIDE THIS at the MCH. The Hugessen House ulating Re- ISSUE: search Half-day We also con- 3666 McTavish Street In postgraduate educa- on May 25th gratulate Mick Bond on his reap- Montreal QC H3A 1Y2 tion, we are preparing with numerous Student 2 pointment as Chief of the De- for the Royal College accredita- presentations by residents, and a Graduates partment of Psychiatry at the tion visit in the spring of 2013. symposium at this year’s CPA Jewish General hospital. By the Karl Looper and hospital site meeting. A special thanks to Ven- next newsletter, I expect that we directors (Nick Casacalendra, kat Bhat, the MPRA resident rep- Special Events 3 will be announcing the new psy- Joanne Joly, Santokh Singh, Lara resentative on the research com- 2012 chiatrists-in-chief at the MUHC Stern, Kia Faridi, and Eugenia mittee, for his outstanding contri- and St. Mary’s and the new scien- Zikos) are on target and have butions to the organization of tific director of the Douglas Re- New Hires, 3 been putting together a strong key events. search Centre. We will also find Directors, and dossier in support of our residen- out who the new director of the Residents cy program. Our department’s contributions Neuro will be. My sense is that to research remain outstanding the leadership transitions have Grants, Awards 4 This July, we have also submitted and we have an impressive num- brought us together as we have and Prizes our application to the Royal Col- ber of grants and awards to re- had to reflect on our priorities lege for a new residency program port. Despite the competition, and the types of leaders we need in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. our department stands out by New Hires, to move forward in these chal- 5 Kudos to Ruth Russell for her being above the benchmarks for Directors, and lenging times. dedication and hard work, and success rates in garnering awards. Promotions for putting together an excellent It is also a challenge to keep up Speaking of leadership, we are dossier. with the number of high impact Other News... 5 very proud to announce that the publications, prizes and recogni- new president of the Canadian Undergraduate education is also tions. We urge members of the Psychiatric Association (CPA) is undergoing a major overhaul as department to keep us informed Suzanne Renaud. Dr. Renaud is an the faculty prepares to introduce of your accomplishments, so we associate professor in our De- the “Transition of Clinical Prac- can share the good news on our partment and on staff at the tice and Clerkship” components website and in the newsletters. Douglas. She has significant lead- of the new curriculum. Gregg ership experience and has served Meterissian and his undergradu- At the RUIS level, we would have in provincial, national and North- ate leadership team (Marc Lapor- hoped to have signed the agree- American organizations. We PAGE 2

Message from the Chair continued… ment with Nunavik by now, but we have encountered To their credit, they have shown exceptional resilience several bureaucratic delays. We are optimistic that the and patience in the face of unacceptable uncertainty. We contract will be signed within the next few weeks, and hope that the new rules and figures will be finalized soon, that we will be able to proceed with the recruitment of so that we can get back to the task of helping our resi- the first McGill psychiatrist dedicated to the Nunavik dents plan their careers within a transparent and predict- project. We are also pursuing our goal to create a Great able framework. North Mental Health Program that will provide compre- hensive mental health services to the Cree and Inuit pop- This fall, there have been significant changes in the admin- ulations within a clinical-research framework. We hope istrative structure that supports our department. The to capitalize on our Department’s strength in transcultur- Faculty of Medicine has launched an administrative excel- al and social psychiatry, to develop, implement and evalu- lence project and our department is the first to take part. ate innovative and culturally-informed mental health care The project is designed to increase efficiency by central- to these vulnerable and culturally-distinct populations. izing financial and human resources (academic and non- academic) processing. Psychiatry has been paired up with The issue of psychiatric recruitment also remains unset- Neurology/Neurosurgery as a centre to implement this tled. In the spring, I participated in three meetings of the new model. Each centre will consist of a team of experts work group struck by the ministry to address psychiatric to perform and execute the work in finance and human manpower in Quebec. Karine Igartua, Suzanne Renaud resources. and Richard Montoro, all members of our department, were also present at the meetings as representatives of I am, therefore, very pleased to announce the recruit- the AMPQ. At the last meeting, the ministry announced ment of Anna-Maria Henderson as the Administrative its intention to decrease the number of psychiatrists Centre Director, Mélanie Pépin as Finance Manager and practicing in institutions in Montreal by 44 by 2015 and Manon Trudeau as Human Resources Administrator. We by 107 by 2020. We, therefore, expect to go from the also welcome Kazué Narita as our new Administrative current number of 434 psychiatrists to 327 by 2020. The Coordinator to the Associate Chair of Research. I ex- decrease will be achieved by adjusting the number of tend a special thank you to Christine Dolden who pro- psychiatrists allowed per institution (PEM). The ministry vided invaluable administrative and moral support over also confirmed the elimination of the closed envelopes, the past year. and a transfer of the control over recruitment to each institution. Finally, as I will be reaching the end of my first mandate in the fall of 2013, we have been asked by the Faculty of Although the Chair will still play a role in vetting recruits Medicine to conduct a self-study of the department over based on academic requirements, henceforth, the hospi- the next six months. This is an opportunity for us to re- tal chiefs will have the mandate of recruiting new psychia- view our progress and reflect on our priorities for the trists and replacing attrition. The situation at McGill will future. We look forward to soliciting your input in the depend on how many positions we will lose (or, less like- process. ly, gain) when the new PEMs are announced. The figures are due to be released in the next few weeks and hospi- As always, it remains a privilege and a pleasure to be part tal directors of professional services will be expected to of our department, and I am very appreciative of your validate the new PEMs. support and collegiality.

In light of the above, last year’s graduates and the current Mimi Israël cohort of R5s have had to face particularly trying times. Chair, Department of Psychiatry Student Graduates Congratulations to the graduating students of 2011-2012!  Dr. Bandar Al-Aqeel  Dr. Marisa Derman  Dr. Silvia Irina Lepadatu  Dr. Ammar Al-Banna  Dr. Simon Ducharme  Dr. Arash Nakhost  Dr. Paulina Bajsarowicz  Dr. Rachel Kronic  Dr. Tuong-Vi Nguyen  Dr. Michel St-Hilaire PAGE 3 Special Events in 2012... Student Research Day Québec Inuit Mental Health Retreat On June 4, the 2012 edition of our annual Student Research Day The first Quebec Inuit Mental Health Retreat was held in Mon- was held with great success. In front of a large and inquisitive treal on April 13, 2012 at the McGill New Residence Hall. It was audience, 23 excellent talks were given. Seven prizes were made possible by the unrestricted grant of Prends Soin de Toi and awarded. partnership with the Office of Senator Charlie Watt, Makivik Douglas Mental Health University Institute Prizes Corporation, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, Qualaxia, WHO  FRSQ Prize for the best talk given by a graduate student Montreal Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental located at Douglas Hospital: Benoit Labonte (PhD-6) Health, RUIS McGill Telehealth, and the Network for Aboriginal Men- "Genome-wide epigenetic regulation by early-life trau- tal Health Research. ma." (Supervisor: Gustavo Turecki) The event was covered by McGill Events, Aboriginal Private Tel-  Birmingham-Dennis Prize for best talk given by a graduate evision Network (APTN), Nunatsiaq News, CBC News, the student registered in the Department of Psychiatry pro- Gazette and others (for more details please visit: http:// gram: Elizabeth Kmiotek (MSc-2) “The role of the Dcc www.qcimhr.ca/en/docs&media). It was also made available up gene in cocaine related behaviours.” North (in local CLSCs from fourteen communities of Nunavik) (Supervisor: Kathryn Gill) with the assistance of RUIS McGill Telehealth.  Douglas Foundation Prize for the 2nd best talk given by a The total number of participants was 110 people. The retreat was approved for six hours of Accredited Group Learning Activ- graduate student located at Douglas Hospital: Ian Mahar ities (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification (PhD-4) "Neuroregulin-ErbB signaling in hippocampal neuro- program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons genesis and affective regulation." (Supervisor: Naguib Mechawar) of Canada.

 Child & Youth Psychiatry Prize for best talk on research about problems that affect young people by a graduate stu- Conference: Evidence Based Community dent supervised by a Department of Psychiatry faculty Interventions member: Benoit Labonte (PhD-6) Genome-wide epigenetic regulation by early-life trauma." (Supervisor: Gustavo The Division of Child Psychiatry organized a successful confer- Turecki) ence on April 20, 2012 on the topic of reducing child mental  Douglas Research Center Prize for the 3rd best talk given health problems. Dr. John D. McLennan and Dr. Ellen Lipman by a graduate student located at Douglas Hospital: discussed their extensive clinical and research interests in the Sabine Dhir (PhD-4) "Estrogen receptor alpha expression development of community interventions. mediates the transgenerational transmission of individual differences in maternal behavior.” (Supervisor: Michael Mea- ney) 2012 Dept. of Psychiatry Research Awards  RI-MUHC Prize for the best talk by a graduate student The competition was excellent and selecting a single research doing research at the RI-MUHC: Elizabeth Kmiotek (MSc project was extremely difficult. We wish to convey our congrat- -2) “The role of the Dcc gene in cocaine-related behav- ulations to all of the worthy applicants for the high quality of iours.” (Supervisor: Kathryn Gill) their research and we encourage all members of our department  Leyton Addiction Research Prize for the best addictions to apply in the future. related paper published each year by a trainee in the De- partment of Psychiatry: Leora Yetnikoff (PhD-7)  Psychiatry Graduate Students Research Award “Abolition of the behavioral phenotype of adult netrin-1 Emily Young, MSc candidate receptor deficient mice by exposure to amphetamine during  Early Career Psychiatrists Research Award the juvenile period.” (Supervisor: Cecilia Flores) Frederique Van den Eynde, MD, PhD CIHR OPERATING GRANT COMPETITION MARCH 2012 RESULTS  Dr. Veronique Bohbot Virtual reality based spatial memory intervention for patients with mild cognitive impairment  Dr. Thomas Brown Effects of sleep deprivation with low blood alcohol levels on executive functions in young drivers  Dr. Lilian Hechtman, Dr. Natalie Grizenko, Dr. William Harvey, Dr. Ridha Joober Efficacy of careful medication and tailored case management follow up treatment for children with attention deficit hyperactivi- ty disorder  Dr. Stephanie Lloyd Neurosciences and the afterlife of death: Re-imagining notions of suicidal risk  Dr. Michael Meany BDNF - Dopamine interactions and maternal behaviour  Dr. Phyllis Zelkowitz Hormonal, genetic, and psychosocial factors in the developing parent-child relationship: A follow up study of parents and their toddlers PAGE 4 Awards and Prizes FRSQ  Dr. Reut Gruber  Dr. Jorge Armony Welcome Trust Grant FRSQ Chercheur-Boursier (Senior) ASMF 2012 Educational Projects Award  Dr. Mathieu Brodeur  Dr Floriana Ianni FRSQ Chercheur-Boursier (Junior 1) The Henry Kravitz Award for Best Teacher 2012  Dr. Reut Gruber  Dr. G. Eric Jarvis FRSQ Chercheur Boursier (Junior II) Training & Retention of Health Professionals Grant,  Dr. Ridha Joober McGill University FRSQ Chercheur-Boursier Clinicien (Senior)  Dr. Myrna Lashley  Dr. Sherif Karama Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal FRSQ Chercheur-Boursier Clinicien (Junior 1)  Dr. Michael Meaney  Dr. Naguib Mechawar 2012 Fondation IPSEN International Prize in Neuronal FRSQ Chercheur-Boursier (Junior II) Plasticity.  Dr. Cécile Rousseau  Dr. Michel Perreault FRSQ Subvention – Recherches en Santé Mentale Mental Health and Addictions Cross-Training Program  Dr. Gustavo Turecki renewed by Canadian Health Services Research Foun- FRSQ Chercheur National dation (CHSRF).  Dr. John C. Perry SSHRC Grant from Int. Psychogeriatric Association  Dr. Jennifer Coelho  Dr. Maria N. Rajah  Dr. David Dunkley John R. & Clara M. Fraser Memorial Award  Dr. Amir Raz NSERC Grants 2012 Scientific Chair of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis  Dr. Nicolas Cermakian Canada Research Chair Tier 2 renewal  Dr. Bruno Giros 2012 Scientific Chair of the American Society of Clini-  Dr. Salah El Mestikawy cal Hypnosis

Editor in Chief of Mind-Body Regulation Journal CIHR New Investigator Awards  Dr. Johanne Renaud  Dr. Naguib Mechawar 2012 Klerman Prize Honorable Mention

 Dr. Suzane Renaud Other Awards, Recognitions and Prizes Inaugurated as President of the Canadian Psychiatric  Dr. Venkataramana Bhat Association AMPQ Research prize  Dr. Zeev Rosberger  Dr. Marcelo T. Berlim Vice-Chair, Advisory Council on Research (ACOR) 2012 NARSAD Young Investigator Grant and Chair  Dr. John Breitner End 3 (Quality of Life) Research Program Development Grant from Joint Program in Neurodegenerative Dis- Committee, Canadian Cancer Society Research Insti- eases tute.  Dr. Ronald Brown  Ms. Rosemary Short (Head Nurse, Child Psychi- AMPQ Prix d’humanisme Jacques Voyer atry)  Dr. Brett D. Thombs Prix Florence – Excellence des Soins by the Ordre des William Dawson Scholar Award Infirmières et Infirmiers du Québec, May 2011  Dr. Simon Ducharme, a recent graduate from our  Dr. Lalit Srivastava residency program was selected for the 2012 ACPC MITACS Grant (Accelerate Graduate Research Intern- Annual Research Award ship Program)  Dr. Carl Ernst  Dr. Gustavo Turecki Canada Research Chair Tier 2 Heinz Lehmann Award  Dr. Gabriella Gobbi Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology Young Investigator Award 2012  Dr. Ashley Wazana Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology McGill Chair of Psychiatry Early Career Psychiatrist Research Award March of Dimes Grant PAGE 5

New Hires in Department Departmental Promotions

Assistant Professor To Assistant Professor  Dr. Frederique Van den Eynde  Dr. Eric Davis Douglas Mental Health University Institute  Dr. Zorana Prelevic  Dr. Hannah Schwartz To Associate Professor with tenure St. Mary’s Hospital  Dr. Helene Hétu  Dr. Cecilia Flores Montreal Children’s Hospital  Dr. Amir Raz  Dr. Jamie Near  Dr. Tak Pan Wong Douglas Mental Health University Institute  Dr. Jess Friedland Douglas Mental Health University Institute New Heads & Directors  Dr. Karim Tabane McGill University Douglas Mental Health University Institute  Associate Graduate Program Director:  Dr. Katherine Steger Douglas Mental Health University Institute Dr. Naguib Mechawar  Dr. Pierre-Olivier Harvey McGill University Health Centre Douglas Mental Health University Institute  Chief and Head of Child Psychiatry:  Dr. Robert Biskin Jewish General Dr. Martin Gauthier  Dr. Sarojini Sengupta  New Clinical Director (MCH): Douglas Mental Health University Institute Dr. Lila Amirali Other News...

Major construction near McTavish Reservoir  Oct. – Dec. 2012: Pine Ave. will be closed between Docteur-Penfield Ave. and McTavish Rd. Detour via Docteur-Penfield Ave., which is open in both directions.  Dec. 2012 - March 2013: Dr Penfield Ave. will be closed between McTavish Rd. and Pins Ave. Detour via Pins Ave., which is open to two-way traffic.  April – Aug. 2013: Partial closure of Pine Ave., between Docteur-Penfield Ave. and Durocher St. Maintaining one lane westbound.

To contribute articles to the Newslet- ter or the Department Website, please send an email to: communications. psychiatry @mcgill.ca

Thank you!