Dr. Pushpal Desarkar is an adult neurodevelopmental psychiatrist, and clinician-scientist with the Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre, Temerty Centre for Therapeutic Brain Intervention, and the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at CAMH. Dr. Desarkar is also the Medical Head of the Adult Neurodevelopmental Services at CAMH. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, and a graduate faculty at the Institute of Medical Sciences, both at the University of Toronto.
Areas of Research
As a clinician scientist, Dr. Desarkar's research has two overarching goals: 1) obtaining new knowledge related to neurophysiological underpinnings in neuropsychiatric disorders, especially autism, across the lifespan; 2) developing novel therapeutic interventions for these conditions. Using innovative brain stimulation techniques, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and the combination of TMS and EEG (TMS-EEG), he is investigating evidence for atypical neuroplasticity and its connection with autism-associated difficulties (e.g. motor function difficulties, sensory sensitivities, executive function difficulties). He is using novel brain stimulation techniques to develop innovative ‘brain mechanism-driven’ treatment options for these autism-associated difficulties to improve outcomes for autistic adults.
Publications
View Dr. Desarkar's publications on Google Scholar and PubMed.