Eduardo Chachamovich, MD, PhD, joined the Douglas after completing his PhD at UFRGS (Brazil) / University of Edinburgh (Scotland), where he explored modern psychometric approaches to measure multidimensional health phenomena. This is a study supported by the World Health Organization in 22 countries around the world.

He also completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the McGill University Faculty of Medicine, which consisted of a comprehensive assessment of risk and protective factors for suicide completion among Inuit in the Territory of Nunavut. His postdoctoral research project was the first to collect systematic data on a large and representative sample of suicide completers in Nunavut. The results will greatly help decision-makers and policy-makers better understand and promote effective suicide prevention strategies.

Eduardo Chachamovich’s work focuses mainly on social and clinical determinants of mental health in Aboriginal populations. He is also interested in exploring adequate strategies to develop valid and culturally-appropriate measures for mental disorders. His current research includes:

• Suicide ideation and behaviours in different Inuit regions
• Risk/protective factors for Inuit suicide completion in Nunavut
• Culturally-sensitive knowledge translation strategies
• Assessment of unmet mental health needs
• Exploration of the psychometric performance of measures of psychopathology among Aboriginal peoples.

Eduardo Chachamovich is a member of the McGill Group for Suicide Studies (MGSS) and the Network for Aboriginal Mental Health Research (NAMHR). He works in close collaboration with the Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry (McGill University), the Government of Nunavut, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI), and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK). Dr. Chachamovich is also a clinical psychiatrist with the Mood Disorders Program at the Douglas Institute.