The Douglas Research Centre

Ridha Joober joined the Research Centre of the Douglas Hospital in 1999 where  he devotes his research to genetics and pharmacogenetics of psychiatric  disorders including schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder in children and  autism. The work of Dr. Joober is dedicated to developing a better  understanding of the genetic architecture of psychiatric disorders, which  could lead to a better understanding of the underlying biology of mental  illness diagnoses and treatments. Dr. Joober also done research on care  models and the organization of services for young people affected with mental  disorders.His more recent work combines genetics and neuroimaging techniques  to study the effects of environmental factor, such as maternal smoking during  pregnancy and drug abuse during adolescence, on brain development and  functioning in patients with psychiatric neurodevelopmental disorders.  As a psychiatrist, Ridha Joober treats and monitors adolescents and young  adults experiencing a first psychotic episode, patients with schizophrenia  living in the community and children with attention deficit disorder with  hyperactivity. He is the Director of PEPP-Montreal, a program that offers  high quality care to young people with psychotic disorder for the first time  in their lives. Dr. Joober is Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry,  Neurology and Human Genetics of the Faculty of Medicine of McGill University.  Due to his engagement in both clinical and molecular investigations, Dr.  Joober work to establish integrated research programs whose primary objective  is to improve the care and well being of patients and their families.