Research: Discovering, sharing and applying new knowledge

CAMH Annual Report

Research initiatives at CAMH play a critical role in improving our understanding of and approaches to mental health and addiction care and prevention. Bringing together these functions at a single site will facilitate everyday communication and informal sharing of work and ideas among researchers, clinicians and educators. This will lead to new advances in understanding and care.

Research discoveries at CAMH today

CAMH is the largest mental health and substance use research facility in Canada. With six prestigious Canada Research Chairs and seven Endowed Chairs and Professorships, CAMH is nationally and internationally renowned. This year, our scientists and research staff secured almost $38 million in grants and contracts. They filed four new patents for novel technologies. Their findings have been cited in over 8,000 scientific papers in the last five years.

Our Research Program is distinguished by both the quality and breadth of its activities. In neuroscience research, we are making discoveries in the biological origins of health and illness, including exciting breakthroughs in the role of genes. We use state-of-the-art Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners to find diagnostic markers for disease and to improve the use of medication. With the help of clients and families, our clinical researchers test these findings to develop new clinical applications and treatments. In prevention, social policy and health policy research, we are discovering more about issues such as alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, as well as women’s and immigrants’ mental health. These discoveries influence social programs and social policy across Canada and beyond.

Planning for the future

l-r: Dr. John Cairey; Dr. Shitij Kapur

This year, the Research Program began developing a new strategic plan to guide its activities over the next five to 10 years. Over 100 CAMH researchers and staff and an external advisory committee of distinguished scientists from the United States, Canada and Britain took part in the nine-month process. The outcome reaffirms the important contribution of research to CAMH’s overall mission: the Research Program must strategically focus its scientific efforts to further enhance research excellence. Moving forward, it will be critical to maintain a balance between clinical research that affects the issues of today and fundamental science that brings the solutions of tomorrow.

“It’s about distinguishing areas of research focus and enhancing research excellence. It’s also about integration and integrated functioning with other parts of CAMH,” says Dr. Shitij Kapur, Chief of Research. “Research is not just about discovering, it is also about sharing and applying the discoveries to improve the lives of people affected by mental illness and addiction. Our scientists must continue to focus on translating new findings from the bench to the bedside, and from the desk of the policy scientists to practice in society.”

Helping people through leading-edge research

CAMH researchers, working across the spectrum “from cells to the community,” are changing the lives of people and communities affected by mental health and substance use problems. Below, we highlight three projects that provide benefits today and generate hope for tomorrow.

Helping 14,000 people quit smoking

While people know that smoking is dangerous, many say that they cannot quit. CAMH hopes to change that with its unique STOP (Smoking Treatment for Ontario Patients) Study.

In partnership with the Ministry of Health Promotion and Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, CAMH is delivering Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT), including nicotine gum and patches, to 14,000 Ontario smokers, free of charge.

This study is the first of its kind in Canada. People who are interested simply call a 1-800 number, talk to a project team member and are couriered their NRT pack. There’s no need to visit a doctor. Staff check in with participants by phone to monitor their success and the effectiveness of NRT in the quitting process.

“It has been shown that attempts to quit smoking are more successful when done with the help of this kind of nicotine cessation aid, but many people do not use this resource, partially due to cost,” says Dr. Peter Selby, Clinical Director of the Addictions Program. “This study will allow us to encourage people to stop, and monitor which quitting methods are most effective. This way we will be able to better treat people in the future.”

Fostering research partnerships

Staff of CAMH's Centre for Prevention Science met with First Nations youth and local lead partners in London, Ontario to discuss the development of school-based projects aimed at preventing violence.

CAMH launched a Community Research Capacity Enhancement Program to foster research partnerships and build research capacity among community organizations.

This year, it helped a partnership of community, health and First Nations organizations in Kenora undertake the First Nations Student Drug Use Survey. The five organizations, which work with First Nations youth, said lack of health and substance use information was a barrier to the delivery of mental health and addiction services.

Working with CAMH, they developed the First Nations Student Drug Use Survey. Existing CAMH surveys were adapted to ensure the methodology and questions were culturally appropriate. Almost 120 grades 7 to 12 students from three Anishinabe schools in the Kenora–Rainy River district filled out the survey.

“Local agencies and organizations know the research they need. They put the results to use,” says Dr. Louis Gliksman, Director of Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research at CAMH. “It’s important for CAMH to make research relevant to the communities that we serve. Funding community research is an effective way.”

Developing new treatments for depression and schizophrenia

Dr. Jeff Daskalakis administers the latest treatment for schizophrenia and depression - transcranial magnetic stimulation.

CAMH is pioneering a treatment for schizophrenia and depression that has the potential to help a large number of people with resistant symptoms who get little relief from medication.

The treatment, called Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (RTMS), is based on research conducted by Dr. Jeff Daskalakis in the late 1990s as a student at CAMH. He discovered that there is a brain basis for auditory hallucinations in people with schizophrenia. By stimulating a particular region of the brain with a magnetic pulse, it was possible to suppress these hallucinations.

CAMH recently opened the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Clinic, which has treated 35 people. Initial results are extremely positive, with close to 50 per cent reporting significant benefits. The clinic plans to treat over 200people with depression this year, and many more as the new treatment becomes better known. “A large number of people have depressive symptoms, and 40 to 50 per cent are not getting adequate benefit from medication treatment. This means RTMS could benefit a staggering number,” says Dr. Daskalakis.

He suggests that when the Queen Street site is redeveloped and research and care are at one site, access to novel treatments like RTMS will expand. “It will make research and treatment easier for both CAMH clients and staff. Many more people will participate in studies. This will help us learn more so we can help more people.”

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