March 13, 2024
Today the Government of Canada announced the new Canada Research Chairs (CRC), one of the country’s highest academic honours. We are pleased to announce that two new Chairs have been awarded to Douglas researchers, Dr. Srividya Iyer and Dr. Massimiliano Orri. In addition, Dr. Gustavo Turecki’s CRC was renewed for 7 years. The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Transport and Quebec Lieutenant, made the announcement on behalf of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, this morning at the Université de Montréal.
Established in 2000, the CRC Program enables Canadian universities to become world-class research centres in engineering and the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences. To achieve this objective, the Government of Canada awards up to $311 million per year through the CRC program to attract and retain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising researchers to Canada.
The three Douglas researchers involved in this CRC award cycle are:
Srividya Iyer, Canada Research Chair in Youth, Mental Health and Learning Health Systems, CIHR, Tier 1 (New)
Working with youth, family, Indigenous, community, health, and government partners, Dr. Iyer currently leads a range of research projects focused on increasing young people’s access to quality services to improve their mental health and wellbeing. Dr. Iyer works in Quebec, Canadian and global contexts, including in Nigeria and in India, where she was born. Her work focuses particularly on diverse, underserved youths. To ensure that her research impacts on services and policies, Dr. Iyer uses a learning health system approach. This entails health organizations or networks collecting and deriving insights from data (numbers, stories and other information), using the knowledge generated to improve practices, studying practices to generate further data, and so on. The diverse nature of Dr. Iyer’s work is captured well in her recently launched Youth Mental Health Collective website. Learn more about Dr. Iyer’s team, and its innovative approaches, projects and collaborations here: https://www.srividyaiyer.com/
Massimiliano Orri, Canada Research Chair in Suicide Prevention, CIHR, Tier 2 (New)
Dr. Orri is a researcher with the McGill Group for Suicide Studies (Douglas Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University) and a clinical psychologist at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. Applying a life-course approach to suicide prevention, Dr. Orri’s research aims to understand the role of developmental risk factors in the lifelong pathway to suicide. Using data from longitudinal birth cohorts around the world, health administrative data and innovative genetic-based models, this research aims to advance our understanding of suicide and related disorders and inform early intervention efforts to reduce the burden of suicide at a population level. To find out more, click here: www.orrilab.ca
Gustavo Turecki, Canada Research Chair in Major Depressive Disorder and Suicide, CIHR, Tier 1 (Renewal)
Dr. Turecki is Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, Director of the McGill Group for Suicide Studies (MGSS), a world-leading multidisciplinary suicide research group (www.mgss.ca), composed of researchers in anthropology, psychology, epidemiology, anatomy and molecular biology, which includes the Douglas-Bell Brain Bank of Canada (www.douglasbrainbank.ca) and Scientific Director of the Douglas Research Centre. His research focuses on understanding the neurobiology of depression and suicide, with a particular interest in functional genomics and epigenetics. It draws on cutting-edge epidemiological, clinical, psychosocial and basic research approaches that have significantly advanced our knowledge of the mechanisms leading to suicide and suicidal behaviour. His laboratory has also made major contributions to the study of antidepressant response mechanisms. Dr. Turecki is also Psychiatrist-in-Chief of the CIUSSS Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal and Director of the Depressive Disorders Program at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, where he treats patients with refractory major depressive disorder.
This morning’s announcement was warmly welcomed by Christopher Manfredi, Provost and Senior Vice-President Academic at McGill University.
“The Government of Canada’s support through the Canada Research Chairs Program paves the way for groundbreaking discoveries at McGill and at other leading research institutions that will improve the quality of life for all Canadians and others around the world. McGill’s new and renewed Canada Research Chairs are exceptional leaders in their fields, whose dedication to research and commitment to mentoring the next cohort is much deserving of these significant appointments.” – Christopher Manfredi, Provost and Vice-President (Academic)
There are two types of Canada Research Chairs: Tier 1 Chairs, awarded to outstanding researchers acknowledged by their peers as world leaders in their fields, are valued at $200,000 annually for seven years with one opportunity for renewal; Tier 2 Chairs, valued at $120,000 annually for five years and renewable only once at a value of $100,000 annually, are for exceptional emerging researchers, acknowledged by their peers as having the potential to lead in their field.
Congratulations to Drs. Iyer, Orri, and Turecki!
See McGill publication here