Research in the Geriatric Mental Health Program focuses on the causes, assessment, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders and addiction in late life.

Building on its strong clinical services, we consider a strong and focused research program to be critical to our mission to improve the care of older persons with mental illness and addiction in Ontario. This research program focuses on three related areas:

The overarching aim of the current work is to improve our understanding of treatment mechanisms and response variability, so that we may ultimately be able to personalize care with medication and other treatments and thereby enhance efficacy and reduce adverse experiences in the treatment of late life mental disorders.

Projects 

• Cognition, memory and attention in older adults with bipolar disorders and the ability to do everyday activities
• Acute pharmacotherapy of late-life mania
• D₂ dopamine receptor occupancy of risperidone and its relationship to extrapyramidal symptoms in older patients withapsychotic disorder: a pilot study
• Treating refractory major depressive disorder with repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): a double-blind sham controlled longitudinal study
• Serotonergic status in psychosis due to dementia-healthy controls: a pilot study
• A diffusion tensor imaging and genetics study of psychosis across the lifespan: a pilot study

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