Message from the President/CEO

From a social perspective, the stigma associated with mental disorders is finally fading, thanks in large part to research demonstrating biological underpinnings for psychiatric conditions. From the scientific realm, this decade has witnessed unprecedented progress in neuroscience, neuroimaging and genetics research, igniting hope for imminent breakthroughs in our knowledge of the causes and effective treatment of mental illness. Closer to home, the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR) and Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre have just moved into a new and improved treatment facility, which includes a world-class research facility.

The mission of the IMHR is to create scientific knowledge to improve mental health and well-being locally and globally; our vision is to be a premier research institute with national and international centre of excellence status that continuously improves mental health and well-being through leadership, collaborative discoveries and innovation in research, patient care and education. To achieve these objectives, the IMHR has developed leading-edge multidisciplinary research programs aimed at unraveling the biological and psychosocial factors contributing to mental illness, and to develop innovative ways to treat mental illness. Likewise, we are currently incorporating cutting-edge platforms of research into our existing framework including brain-imaging and translational neuroscience, all of which promise to improve both our understanding and treatment of mental-illness.

We are fortunate to have strong partnership commitments from the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, the University of Ottawa, the Ministry of Health, Champlain Local Integrated Health Network (LIHN) and the Federal government to support our work. We will build on these partnerships and develop others that will lead to collaborative studies among a variety of health disciplines.

This is an exciting time to be working with a team of dedicated and compassionate researchers committed to developing innovative and more effective ways to treat the mentally ill. I am confident that the research carried out through the IMHR will impact on mental health care locally, nationally and internationally. As President/CEO, I encourage you to learn more about the work being carried out at the IMHR and to support this important mission.

Dr. Zul Merali, President & CEO