Research Funding
The Excellence Funds
The Excellence Funds are the result of a University of Toronto Department of Psychiatry (‘the Department’) fundraising effort to provide seed funding for projects by junior faculty that align with the Department’s strategic plan and priorities as expressed by the donors of funds. The three designated areas of priority are: Research, Education and Creative Professional Activity (CPA). With respect to Research, the seed funds are intended to support projects that will generate pilot data to support a subsequent more definitive peer-reviewed grant application, preferably intended for submission to a provincial or national funding agency
For more information on the application process, eligibility and timelines, please click here to view the Call for Proposals 2020-2021 .
Labatt Family Innovation Fund in Brain Health
Background
In Canada alone, one in five people will experience mental illness in their lifetime. However, by
seeding the field of psychiatry research with talented scientists we can bring substantive advance to
the broad spectrum of mental health in general and the fields of eating disorders, depression and
anxiety in particular.
Through the Labatt Family Innovation Fund in Brain Health, the University of Toronto’s Department
of Psychiatry will fund six promising studies to impact the trajectory and outcomes of eating
disorders, depression, or anxiety in young and mid-life adults.
Awardees
2016
Principal Applicants: Patricia Colton & Paul Kurdyak
A Health Services Approach to Examining the Health Status, Health Care Utilization and Health Care Costs of Individuals with Eating Disorders in Ontario
2017
Principal Applicant: Stefan Kloiber
Cannabidiol for Treatment of Social Anxiety - An Experimental Pilot Study with PET Imaging
2018
Principal Applicant: Gwyneth Zai
Biomarkers of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Treatment Response
2019
Principal Applicant: John David Griffiths
Improving Neurostimulation TherapyFor Depression Through Personalized Computational Modelling of Neural Plasticity Mechanisms
Learn more about the awardees and their projects.
Miner’s Lamp Innovation Fund in the Prevention and Early Detection of Severe Mental Illness
Background
The Miner’s Lamp Award Campaign has paved the way for new research in this area since 2016, thanks to a partnership between IAMGOLD Corporation, the University of Toronto Department of Psychiatry, and generous funding from diverse organizations and individuals.
Every dollar donated to the Miner's Lamp Award Campaign supports new research into youth mental health. Through the Miner’s Lamp Innovation Fund in the Prevention and Early Detection of Severe Mental Illness, the proceeds of the campaign are invested into promising studies at the Department of Psychiatry.
Awardees
2016
Principal Applicant: Vincenzo De Luca
Interaction between early life adversities and schizophrenia vulnerability genes in conferring risk for suicide in young people
Principal Applicants: Joanna Henderson & Aristotle Voineskos
Early Identification of Psychosis Spectrum Symptoms: A Novel Ascertainment Approach Through Tertiary Care Child & Youth Clinics
2017
Principal Applicant: Benjamin Goldstein
Early Detection of Anomalous Microvasculature to Inform Novel Treatment and Prevention Targets in Early-Onset Bipolar Disorder
Principal Applicant: Michael Kiang
Using Electrophysiological Indices of Auditory Processing to Estimate Psychosis Risk in Clinical High Risk Youth
Principal Applicant: Nathan Kolla
Early Detection of Aggression in First Episode Psychosis: A Structural and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
2018
Principal Applicants: Albert Wong and Fang Liu
The DISC1-D2 protein complex as a biomarker for early detection of schizophrenia
Principal Applicant: Philip Gerretsen
The effects of adjunctive transcranial direct current stimulation on medication adherence in first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorder.
Principal Applicant: Vanessa Goncalves
The Use of Mitochondrial DNA as Marker of Clinical Subtypes of Youth Psychosis Patients: Potential Tool for Precision Medicine.
2019
Principal Applicants: Ishrat Husain
Symptoms of advanced aging as a biomarker for the severity of a biploar disorder and the likelihood of recurrence.
Principal Applicant: Farooq Naeem
Delveloping an app to detect relapses in patients with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSDs).
Principal Applicant: Jacob Vorstman
Using smartphones to detect relapses in bipolar disorder.