The UBC Institute of Mental Health (IMH) Marshall Scholars and Fellows Program in Mental Health supports the training of young investigators in translational research in order to create vital training opportunities and research capacity in mental health.
Inspired by Sunny and Stewart Marshall’s vision and commitment to advance mental health research, the IMH Marshall Fellows Program invests in promising young trainees who will contribute to advancing understanding and treatment of psychiatric disorders.
Annually, the IMH in partnership with the UBC Department of Psychiatry invites applications from qualified candidates for Fellow awards which are supported by the Marshall Fellows Program in Mental Health. The program funds stipends of $75,000 per year for each Fellow for up to two years.
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INVITING APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2023/2024 IMH MARSHALL FELLOWS PROGRAM
We are pleased announce the call for applications for the UBC Institute of Mental Health (IMH) Marshall Fellows Program in Mental Health for 2023/2024.
The IMH, in partnership with the Department of Psychiatry, is now inviting applications from qualified candidates for Fellowship awards, which will be supported by the Marshall Fellows Program in Mental Health. Please see the Application Guidelines for more detailed information regarding the requirements and criteria for this award.
This year, in accordance with the original award funding plan, the program will fund stipends of $75,000 for up to six Fellows. Since the Fellowship Program was originally developed to support the training of clinician scientist psychiatrists, a minimum of three (3) awards will be allocated to MDs. The duration of funding is for one year only, however Fellows may have an opportunity to apply for a one-year extension of funding in the following year. Current Fellows in their first year of funding in 2022/2023 may apply for an extension in 2023/2024 for a second and final year of funding.
We ask that this information be circulated widely, and encourage all qualified applicants to apply.
Applicants must submit their applications online at: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dapaPWNEA6wUsCi by Sunday April 30, 2023 (11:59 pm PST).
If you have questions or require further information regarding these awards, please contact Vicky Yau, Director, Administration, at vicky.yau@ubc.ca.
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UBC IMH MARSHALL FELLOWS OF 2022/2023
THOMAS CHAO, PhD
Project Description:
“People with concurrent disorders (PCD) have worse mental health and treatment outcomes than any other mental health group. Research on PCD and their treatment outcomes is severely lacking, as they are often excluded from studies due to the severe and complex nature of their disorders. With 1,500 planned participants, ROAR-CANADA is assembling the largest sample of people with concurrent disorders worldwide. For the past year, we have been successfully running ROAR CANADA at 4 sites in BC and Ontario. This 5-year Health Canada-funded project collects a wealth of unprecedented information pertaining to patient profiles, as well as unique information, such as self-report data on victimization and violence and administrative data, before and after the concurrent disorder treatment.
My project aims to enrich the current assessment protocol with the inclusion of neurocognitive tests and measures of stress, including biomarkers of acute and general stress. Cognitive functioning and stress have been shown to impact treatment outcomes across substance-using and mental health populations, but they have not been studied in PCD as a single clinical group. The knowledge obtained through this study will contribute to a more comprehensive assessment of concurrent disorders, and the risk factors and prevention strategies for overdose and relapse.”
Supervisor: Dr. Christian Schütz
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ALOK KULKARNI, MD
Project Description:
“Bipolar disorder (BD), is a severe mental illness characterized by dramatic shifts in mood, energy, and activity levels causing substantial impairment in interpersonal and social functioning. The disease course has recurrent periods of highs (mania) and lows (depression) in a person’s mood and activity levels. Globally, BD is the 4th leading cause of disability in the 15-24 year old age group. It is associated with substantial functional impairment, and carries with it a high risk of suicide. Treatment outcomes have remained poor in BD. Previous research entailing early interventions has shown sub-optimal results making the case for even earlier interventions.
Our current study will identify persons who are at high-risk to develop BD, and compare the effectiveness of a medication, minocycline, as compared to the placebo, in preventing the emergence of the aforementioned periods of highs and lows. Research has identified inflammation as the primary contributor for the progression of BD. As minocycline is an antibiotic commonly used to treat acne in adolescents given its anti-inflammatory properties, it has great potential to arrest the disease progression by its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant actions. We hypothesize that fewer high-risk subjects receiving minocycline will experience mood episode(s) as against those receiving the dummy pills during the 1-year study period. If our hypothesis turns out to be true, it will provide the impetus for a larger and more definitive clinical trial. If minocyclin’s effectiveness is confirmed in preventing BD in high-risk subjects, it will transform the clinical management of BD.”
Supervisor: Dr. Lakshmi Yatham
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KIRSTEN MARCHAND, PhD
Project Description:
“Since 2016, approximately 5,000 adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15 and 29 have died from opioid-related overdoses in Canada. This has left families and communities to mourn the loss of their loved ones. These overdose deaths can be avoided by getting youth the help they need, as early as possible. However, most of the currently available help has focused on adults, under the assumption that what works for adults will also work for youth. Unfortunately, research in British Columbia has recently found that this is not the case. Instead, existing options for help do not meet youths’ opioid treatment needs and preferences.
The main goal of this study is to determine how to best help youth who use opioids. To meet this objective, we will engage youth, parents/caregivers, and service providers in a research study. This study will explore priorities for opioid use treatment delivery. It will also determine how to best define the benefits of opioid use treatment for youth. These findings will then be used to study how well youths’ priorities are being met by available treatments and services across British Columbia. The findings of this study will help service providers and policy makers to deliver opioid treatments in a way that will better meet youths’ unique needs. The findings will also help future researchers to make sure that they are studying what matters most to youth.”
Supervisor: Dr. Skye Barbic
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JOHN-JOSE NUNEZ, MD
Project Description:
“This project will use computerized ‘machine-learning’ to predict if, and when, a patient’s depression will recur after being treated successfully. If we can use machine learning to accurately predict when a patient’s depression is just starting to return, we may be able to offer extra medications or therapy to stop it from worsening. Depression is the second-biggest cause of disability around the world, and most patients will have more than one episode, so a prediction that works well would be clinically useful.
So far, researchers have used smartphone data by itself to predict when a patient’s depression will recur. In this project, we want to improve these predictions by training our algorithms with additional clinical data, such as other illnesses they have and how quickly their depression has improved with treatment in the past. Using both smartphone and clinical data from a recent study we completed, we will train algorithms using machine learning to predict when patients’ depression will recur. This will determine if clinical data can improve the accuracy of prediction with smartphone data alone. Our study has more patients and more comprehensive clinical data than researchers have previously used, which may also increase our ability to predict recurrence. We hope that a more accurate prediction of depression recurrence will help doctors and mental health clinicians to keep patients depression free by earlier treatment before their depression returns.”
Supervisor: Dr. Raymond Lam
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MEGAN ROWLAND, PhD
Project Description:
“Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most prevalent forms of developmental brain disorders, affecting 1 in 66 children in Canada. ASD is characterized by impairments in social communication, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviours which can be a significant burden on families, social services and the healthcare system. It is well established that ASD is heritable, however, there are hundreds of genes that have been implicated. One group of genes that are of particular interest are part of the Brg1 Associated Factor (BAF) complex. Mutations in the BAF complex have recently been linked to ASDs but it is still unknown how mutations in BAF genes actually lead to ASDs. A novel, neuron specific version of the BAF complex has emerged as a promising candidate.
My project will investigate the loss of the neuronal BAF complex specifically in parvalbumin (PV) inhibitory neurons in mice. I hypothesize that loss of the neuronal BAF complex in PV neurons will alter gene expression that is necessary for proper function resulting in ASD-like behaviours. To understand the underlying cause of any behavioural changes, we will employ next generation sequencing to investigate alterations in gene expression and DNA structure in neurons that have lost the neuronal BAF complex. The proposed research represents a unique interface between neuroscience and computational biology for understanding gene expression in ASDs. By providing insight into the etiology of ASD, this work will provide the foundation for future rescue experiments to identify novel therapeutic targets for ASD.”
Supervisor: Dr. Annie Ciernia
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WALTER SENA, MD
Project Description:
“Cognitive assessment has been a staple of medical treatment for over 50 years, used for diagnosis and treatment planning of patients with neurocognitive disorders. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), although it measures brain activity of cognitive processes, has not yet been used clinically in cognitive assessments.
My project aims to help incorporate fMRI knowledge into clinical practice by proposing an fMRI-specific cognitive assessment procedure, including a novel normed fMRI-specific testing battery. If successful, this research will develop the first fMRI-based neurocognitive assessment battery that can be used for the diagnosis and treatment planning of patients with neurocognitive disorders.”
Supervisor: Dr. Todd Woodward
FELLOWSHIP AWARDEES
DR. KOMAL BHARTI
FELLOW
Dr. Bharti’s study will build upon on a recent CIHR-funded project in the NINET lab, which aims to investigate an association between the neural correlates of functional disturbances in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC ) and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC ) of major depressive disorder (MDD) and the heart rate variability (HRV) via a combined “TMS-fMRI-HRV” study. She will investigate the dynamic interaction and relationship between the functional connectivity (FC) in the brain and high frequency heart rate variability (HF HRV) in MDD patients, and develop a neuroimaging pipeline to examine the dynamic temporal interaction between FC during rTMS and HRV, providing an overview of dynamic functional interaction and interplay between HF HRV and functional association between the DLPFC and the sgACC with an approximate estimation of patients who respond in treatment-resistant depression and show symptom improvement.
Supervisor: Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez
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DR. K CHITHRA
FELLOW
As cannabidiol (CBD) has been shown to be a safe medication with few adverse effects in bipolar depressed patients and likely has antidepressant effects, Dr. Chithra’s project will to test CBD as a treatment for the depressive phases of bipolar disorder (BD) in a randomized clinical trial. This pilot study will be used to assess the feasibility and safety of CBD and to gauge signal for efficacy of CBD. In this study, Dr. Chithra will divide the participants into two groups, one of which will receive daily capsules containing CBD, while the other will receive matching placebo capsules for 8 weeks. The aim will be to determine if improvement in depression is greater in the CBD group vs placebo group. As all participants will continue using their usual medication during the study, the findings will open up possibilities to investigate adjunctive CBD for the treatment of acute bipolar depression in large multicentre trials.
Supervisor: Dr. Lakshmi Yatham
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DR. HEATHER PALIS
FELLOW
In her second year as an IMH Marshall Fellow, Dr. Palis will continue to pursue studies to advance the health and well-being of people who use substances and are involved in the criminal justice system. Her project is utilizing the BC Provincial Overdose Cohort (BC-ODC), a linked administrative health and corrections dataset, to ascertain the effects of the health services transfer on reincarceration and overdose among persons with psychiatric disorders and criminal justice system involvement (CJSI). Her study’s objectives include describing the epidemiology of polysubstance use and overdose among people with psychiatric disorders, identifying trends of: a) health services utilization; b) reincarceration; and c) non-fatal and fatal overdose before and after the transfer among persons with CJSI involvement with and without psychiatric disorders, and identifying health services utilization characteristics that have a protective effect on risk of reincarceration and fatal and non-fatal overdose among people with psychiatric disorders.
Supervisor: Dr. Amanda Slaunwhite & Dr. Tonia Nicholls
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DR. NICOLE SANFORD
FELLOW
In her second year as an IMH Marshall Fellow, Dr. Sanford will continue to build upon prior research that has established that major psychiatric disorders, notably schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BD), and to a lesser degree major depressive disorder (MMD), are associated with accelerated brain aging, reflected in a higher Brain age gap estimation (BrainAGE) in patients as compared to healthy individuals. Her project is targeting the two most significant unanswered questions with regards to accelerated aging in major psychiatric disorders: namely, how early it can be detected and what are the key environmental drivers. Addressing these key issues is the crucial first step towards early detection of accelerated aging and effective intervention to minimize modifiable risk factors.
Supervisor: Dr. Sophia Frangou
FELLOWSHIP AWARDEES
DR. RUIYANG GE
FELLOW
Dr. Ge’s research centers around the study of neuroimaging in healthy population and patients with psychiatric disorders. As evidence supports the notion that there is an association between rTMS treatment induced changes in brain function and autonomic nervous system, understanding this association is important for translational purpose because an avenue for identifying a functionally meaningful stimulation target for rTMS treatment is to probe the brain-heart connection. Dr. Ge's project aims first to interrogate the association between rTMS treatment induced changes in brain function and autonomic nervous system. The secondary aim is to test whether the fMRI data and heart rate varilability (HRV) metric serve as potential predictors for treatment response of the following 4-week rTMS treatment.
Supervisor: Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez
(Dr. Ge was appointed as a Research Associate within Dr. Sophia Frangou's research group in January 2021)
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DR. HEATHER PALIS
FELLOW
Dr. Palis is currently engaged in studies to advance the health and well-being of people who use substances and are involved in the criminal justice system. Her project will utilize the BC Provincial Overdose Cohort (BC-ODC), a linked administrative health and corrections dataset, to ascertain the effects of the health services transfer on reincarceration and overdose among persons with psychiatric disorders and criminal justice system involvement (CJSI). Her study’s objectives include describing the epidemiology of polysubstance use and overdose among people with psychiatric disorders, identifying trends of: a) health services utilization; b) reincarceration; and c) non-fatal and fatal overdose before and after the transfer among persons with CJSI involvement with and without psychiatric disorders, and identifying health services utilization characteristics that have a protective effect on risk of reincarceration and fatal and non-fatal overdose among people with psychiatric disorders.
Supervisor: Dr. Amanda Slaunwhite & Dr. Tonia Nicholls
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DR. NICOLE SANFORD
FELLOW
Dr. Sanford's research seeks to build upon prior research that has established that major psychiatric disorders, notably schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BD), and to a lesser degree major depressive disorder (MMD), are associated with accelerated brain aging, reflected in a higher Brain age gap estimation (BrainAGE) in patients as compared to healthy individuals. Her project targets the two most significant unanswered questions with regards to accelerated aging in major psychiatric disorders: namely, how early it can be detected and what are the key environmental drivers. Addressing these key issues is the crucial first step towards early detection of accelerated aging and effective intervention to minimise modifiable risk factors.
Supervisor: Dr. Sophia Frangou
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DR. GAYATRI SARAF
FELLOW
Dr. Saraf's current research investigates the role of increased inflammation in BD in reduced neuronal plasticity, neurite density and cognitive impairment. Brain inflammation can be assessed with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) by estimating the density of the translocator protein (TSPO), a receptor that is upregulated in the mitochondria of immune-activated microglia cells. However, as this has yet to be be evaluated in-vivo, her project will use PET imaging with 11C-PBR-28, a 2nd generation TSPO tracer, to assess brain microglial activation in patients with BD. The objective of this study is to understand the relationship between brain inflammation, brain microstructural changes and cognitive impairment in BD.
Supervisor: Dr. Lakshmi Yatham
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DR. MELISSA WOODWARD
FELLOW
Dr. Woodward is currently researching the innovative use of of ultra-high-resolution retinal imaging using optical coherence tomography (OCT), which allows the direct quantification of retinal nerve fibers and microvasculature using a non-invasive, quick eye examination, in the early detection of pathologies
prominent in marginally-housed psychiatric populations. The objective of her project is to carry out an investigation using OCT imaging of the retina in an impoverished population in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, in order to assess damage to the blood vessels of the retina and to see if this helps to explain the relationship between fentanyl use and clinical factors like impaired thinking abilities and psychiatric symptoms.
Supervisor: Dr. William Honer
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SCHOLARSHIP AWARDEES AND RESEARCH TITLES
ASHLEY BATTAGLINIIntra- and Interpersonal Emotion Regulation in Major Depressive Disorder |
ARIANA CAHNQuantification of cortical thickness changes in bipolar disorder patients following first episode mania: A prospective study |
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MALLORY FLYNN
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TONY FONGHigh Throughput Platform to Assess and Manipulate Cortical Circuits in Mouse Models of Depression |
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ALLISON GIESBRECHT
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TRISTAN HYNESToward a Precision Treatment for Addiction: Focus on Dopamine Circuits and Sex |
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BONNIE LEEThe Impact of Motherhood and APOE Genotype on the Aging Brain |
DAPHNE LINGThe Neural Basis of Low-Dose versus Normal-Dose Psychostimulants on Executive Functions in Youth with Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder: A Randomised Controlled Trial |
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MELANIE LYSENKO-MARTINNeural and Behavioral Substrates of THC-Induced Impairments in Decision Making |
ALEXANDER MORINIntegrating transcription factor binding and perturbation data to understand gene regulation in the brain |
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RAE MORRISMental Health Service Provision with Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Interpretive Description Study |
SHAWNA NARAYAN
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MAYA NESBITPreclinical Study of d-govadine and its Effects on Corticostriatal Mechanisms of Amphetamine Addiction |
BOAZ SAFFERIdentifying the Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Suicidal Behaviours in Emerging Adults |
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JEAN WESTENBERG
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DR. TRAVIS ELLINGTON HODGES
FELLOW
RESEARCH TITLE: Neural Mechanisms Underlying Sex Differences in Depression and Negative Cognitive Bias in Susceptible Populations
Travis is researching the neural mechanisms that underpin pessimistic thinking, a common aspect of depression. His research pays particular attention to how it differs according to age and sex.
He says, “We see lots of treatments based on research solely done in adult males. However, we’ve found in our lab that many treatments do not work the same in females, so we want to see if there are sex-specific effects on pessimism related to inflammation and the growth of new neurons in the brain. My background includes a lot of study in the different ways that stressors affect the adolescent brain, so my research as a Marshall Fellow will hopefully lead to multiple treatments tailored for groups susceptible to cognitive symptoms of depression, such as teenage girls.”
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DR. EMMA MORTON
FELLOW
RESEARCH TITLE: Advancing the Science on Quality of Life in Mood Disorders: A Synergistic, Multi-Method Program of Research
Emma’s work investigates the growing evidence that people can have a good quality of life despite the symptoms they experience from mood disorders. She will look at large-scale data sets that have been collected through various UBC studies to determine how quality of life relates to other variables and how it responds to treatments.
A smartphone app will be created to enable people with bipolar disorder track their quality of life, and all of this data, along with other information such as screen time and physical activity will be analyzed using machine learning, which is a type of artificial intelligence that studies data to build mathematical models and make predictions. These will be used to direct people to strategies which might help improve their quality of life.
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DR. KATERINA RNIC
FELLOW
RESEARCH TITLE: A Randomized Controlled Feasibility Trial of Cognitive Control Training for Major Depressive Disorder
Katerina’s work looks at how cognitive control—the brain’s ability to control the contents of its awareness at a given time—is involved in the onset of an episode of depression. People suffering from this illness have cognitive control biases, where they become stuck in a feedback loop of negative information. Katerina aims to create a novel cognitive control program to train depressed patients to inhibit this negative information and regulate their emotions. This training program will be something that is easily disseminated to clinicians, and even patients; they will be able to access it online, meaning that it has the potential to reach people in rural communities who don’t have access to care. It also has potential for patients who may not wish to use medication, such as pregnant women.
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DR. GAYATRI SARAF
FELLOW
RESEARCH TITLE: Assessing Brain Synaptic Density in Bipolar Disorder: A Positron Emission Tomography study with 11C-UCB-J
We know that there is a change in the function and structure of the brains in bipolar suffers, but the information we have acquired is from post mortem studies. We do not know the distribution and density of synapses in the living brain, nor do we know the precise neurochemical and mechanisms behind bipolar disorder.
Gayatri’s work will leverage recent technological advances in positron emission tomography (PET) scans to reveal these secrets and track the progression of the disease over time. There are no previous studies in bipolar disorder that have looked at the density of synapses, so she hopes to gain a greater insight into what happens in the brain tissue of people living with the disease and leverage this knowledge into innovative clinical treatments.
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DR. MELISSA WOODWARD
FELLOW
RESEARCH TITLE: The Age of Fentanyl – Overdose, Hypoxia and Microvascular Damage
Melissa is researching the innovative use of existing technology: eye scans. Her project will use retinal imaging similar to what an eye doctor would use. These high-resolution images give a more detailed picture of the retina and blood vessels, however. Any changes in them may indicate changes in the brain—there is lots of evidence that people with schizophrenia show differences in their retinas—and point to possible cardiovascular issues too.
Her doctoral work was about the impact of exercise on people with psychosis. People get overwhelmed by mental illness, and exercise is something that can greatly improve quality of life. Figuring out who needs early cardiovascular care in a cheap, effective way has significant clinical implications and can reduce the strain on healthcare budgets by allowing us to reduce the number of people undergoing MRI scans.
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SCHOLARSHIP AWARDEES AND RESEARCH TITLES
ARIANA CAHNQuantification of Volumetric Brain Changes in Bipolar Disorder Patients following First Episode Mania: A Prospective Study |
MAYA NESBITPreclinical Study of d-govadine and its Effects on Corticostriatal Mechanisms of Amphetamine Addiction |
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RAND EIDMicroglia as Targets of Estradiol-Mediated Stress Resilience |
MATTHEW NOSEWORTHYComparing the Cognitive Effects of Outdoor Versus Indoor Walking among Community-Dwelling Older Adults |
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TONY FONGHigh Throughput Platform to Assess and Manipulate Cortical Circuits in Mouse Models of Depression |
RACHAL PATTISONExamining Mental Health Differences Among Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Youth: A Mixed Method Approach |
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TRISTAN HYNESToward a Precision Treatment for Addiction: Focus on Dopamine Circuits and Sex |
TRISTAN JOSHUA PHILLIPESex Differences in Stress Habituation and Serotonin 1A Receptor Function |
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BONNIE LEEThe Impact of Motherhood and APOE Genotype on the Aging Brain |
WANSU QIUEffects of Maternal Postpartum Corticosterone and SSRI Exposure on Cytokine Profile and Microbiome in Dams and Offspring |
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DAPHNE LINGThe Neural Basis of Low-Dose versus Normal-Dose Psychostimulants on Executive Functions in Youth with Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder: A Randomised Controlled Trial |
JACOB STUBBSCharacterizing the Impact of Traumatic Brain Injury on the Mental Health and Brain Structure of Homeless and marginally House Individuals in a Community-Based Study |
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MELANIE LYSENKO-MARTINNeural and Behavioral Substrates of THC-Induced Impairments in Decision Making |
BOAZ SAFFERIdentifying the Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Suicidal Behaviours in Emerging Adults |
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RAE MORRISMental Health Service Provision with Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Interpretive Description Study |