Ottawa, December 11, 2020 - In the annual list released today by Research Infosource, The Royal has been named one of Canada’s Top 40 Research Hospitals for 2020. This year, The Royal has climbed up five ranks to number 32 on the list. The Royal also placed in the Top 10 Research Hospitals for growth.
“Research plays an integral role in what we do here at The Royal,” says Joanne Bezzubetz, President and CEO of The Royal. “Our strategy to transform the future of mental health includes fostering a dynamic culture where research and care are connected in all aspects of our work. As a Top 40 Research Hospital, we will bring together research and practice and forge new possibilities for research that transform care and outcomes in the areas that matter most to clients and families.”
"The diverse expertise of our Researchers is one of our greatest strengths. By utilizing our combined scientific capabilities to look ahead and anticipate change, we can adapt our research to provide answers that meet future needs. By asking insightful questions, we can utilize our research capacity and resources at The Royal’s IMHR to improve mental health care that ensures better outcomes for clients, families and clinicians throughout our community," says Steve West, Chair of the Board of Directors, The Royal's Institute of Mental Health Research.
Read this Q&A with Florence Dzierszinski, President of The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research, affiliated with uOttawa / Vice-President Research of The Royal, to learn more about The Royal’s vision for research that is integrated with care and designed in collaboration with clients, families and other people with lived expertise.
Here are some of the exciting research initiatives underway at The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research, affiliated with the University of Ottawa, which demonstrate why The Royal’s is a Top Research Hospital:
- Mapping out a better understanding of PTSD - The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research has received more than $1M to find biomarkers that could lead to better diagnosis and more personalized treatment for people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Examining the impact of COVID-19 on a unique population: medical residents - What is the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of Canadian medical residents? Thanks to a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), we might be one step closer to answering this question, and developing an improved response to meet the mental health needs of this unique group.
- Understanding the brain in relation to addictive substances – New research by The Royal published in the American Journal of Psychiatry is furthering our understanding of what happens in the brain in relation to heavy cocaine use and possibly other addictive substances.
- Using artificial intelligence to gain a better understanding of our brains - Dr. Georg Northoff of The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research and the University of Ottawa is part of a team that has received a grant from the Canada-United Kingdom Artificial Intelligence Initiative to study the brain and how it interacts with the external environment.
- Clients and families at the centre of new research grants - Client and family-led research projects focusing on schizophrenia and caregiver support programs secure CIHR research grants.
- Research shows ketamine can be a life-saver in the fight against depression - For people with treatment-resistant depression who have tried different medications but have not found anything that helps, ketamine has proven to be a life-changing – even life-saving – intervention.
- Early career scientists secure major federal grant to improve understanding of cognitive impairments in people with schizophrenia - Dr. Lauri Tuominen and Dr. Synthia Guimond are early career scientists at The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR) and the latest recipients of a Project grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) - one of the most competitive funding competitions for health research in Canada.