Dr. Nisha Ravindran is an Associate Scientist in the General Adult Psychiatry and Health Systems division at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Ravindran completed his psychiatry residency training at the University of Toronto.
Areas of Research
Dr. Ravindran’s research currently focuses on the development and testing of novel pharmacological treatments for mood and anxiety disorders. His clinical trials span the entire drug development process from initial development to maintenance, concurrently investigating biomarkers to predict treatment response.
Dr. Ravindran has over a decade of experience in the conduct of high-risk Health Canada regulated clinical trials at CAMH. As a primary investigator, he has led several phase II, phase III, and phase IV clinical trials, including the landmark long-term maintenance safety study on esketamine, supporting its use for major depressive disorder.
Notably, Dr. Ravindran is a co-author of the CANMAT Task Force Guidelines on the use of ketamine for major depressive disorder in Canada. He is also a co-author of the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) 2023 Update on Clinical Guidelines for Major Depressive Disorder in Adults.
Dr. Ravindran is actively involved in clinical education, delivering specialist mental health training around the world, in the area of neurobiology and psychopharmacology of mood and anxiety disorders and ADHD. In terms of global health, he has been involved in implementation of various scalable and sustainable interventions, addressing mental health of youth in low- and middle-income countries.
Publications
View Dr. Ravindran’s publications on Google Scholar.
Clinical Trials
A Phase 2/3, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of the safety and efficacy of flexible doses of SEP-363856 as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of adults with major depressive disorder. PI for site: Ravindran N.; CI: Ravindran AV. (2022–present).
A multicenter, 48-week open-label safety study of adjunctive Troriluzole in subjects with obsessive-compulsive disorder (BHV4157-209). PI for site: Ravindran N.; CI: Ravindran AV. (2022–present).
Efficacy and tolerability of esketamine, a novel "standard of care" treatment, for the management of patients with treatment-resistant depression: An observational study. (November 2021). PI for site: Ravindran N.; Main PI: Vasquez GV. (2021–present).
A randomized, double‐blind, placebo controlled trial of adjunctive BHV‐4157 in obsessive-compulsive disorder (BHV4157-303). PI for site: Ravindran N.; CI: Ravindran AV. (2021–present).
Youth well-being in China and Central America: Implementation of an integrated prevention and intervention program. PI for site: Ravindran AV.; CIs: Ravindran N., Law S., Kang Y., Wang Y., Bao Y., Kong Q. Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) & National Natural Science Foundation of China. (2017–present).
Predicting treatment response to evidence-based interventions in major depressive disorder: Evaluating biomarkers with clinical utility. PI: Ravindran N.; CIs: McKay M., Paric A., Kowara A., Deluca V., Ravindran A. Investigator-initiated. (2016–present).
A 24-week, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate efficacy and safety of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in adults with alcohol use disorder (AUD). PI for site: Ravindran N.; CI: Ravindran AV. (2022–2024).