Research
Research improves lives. It is through understanding that we learn what causes disease, how to develop better treatments and how to prevent illness. Canadian medical professionals and researchers have demonstrated leadership worldwide when it comes to pioneering treatments that improve the quality of life for people suffering from disease.
Past discoveries are helping people today. Mood stabilizers, antidepressants, antipsychotics and evidence-based psychotherapies are just a few examples of how research leads to therapies that enable more people to lead healthy, productive lives.
SJHH and McMaster University are uniquely positioned to work together in mental health research and education. The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences of McMaster will be based at our new hospital. Our partners at McMaster have achieved research excellence in the areas of children’s mental health, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia and health system research. All of our psychiatrists and many of our staff in the mental health program hold appointments with this department and other departments in the university that facilitate research in psychiatry, nursing, social work and other professions working within the multidisciplinary mental health care teams at SJHH.
At our Brain Body Institute, researchers are working to determine to what extent the brain and the rest of the nervous system are involved in the onset and regulation of diseases of the lung and the intestine. Researchers are also examining topics such as how emotion affects everyday memory in people struggling with mood disorders, how the brain develops in people with schizophrenia and much more.
Research and education will be integral components of our new West 5th Campus, with the development of a research facility which will be Canada’s leading innovation centre for the study and treatment of disorders of brain function. The location of an expanded, innovative research centre in a fully integrated psychiatric and medical hospital will create an environment that not only fosters innovation in research, but also advances the way we translate knowledge to patients and clinicians.
For more information on current research or to find out how to get help, click here.