Natalia Jaworska , PhD
Dr. Natalia Jaworska is the Director of the Clinical Electrophysiology Laboratory at The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR), affiliated with the University of Ottawa. She is also an Assistant Professor (Research) with the University of Ottawa’s Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, as well as an Adjunct Professor in Psychology at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa.
Dr. Jaworska holds a BSc (Neuroscience) from the University of Alberta, and an MSc (Psychology/Neuroscience) from Dalhousie University, where she conducted research in an animal model of depression. Her doctoral training was carried out at the University of Ottawa (Psychology) and focused on characterizing brain electrical profiles in depressed individuals. She subsequently completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Calgary and McGill University.
Broadly, Dr. Jaworska’s research centers on better understanding brain function and structure in mental illness (particularly mood disorders), as well as the neural features associated with treatment response. She employs various neuroimaging techniques, including clinical electrophysiology (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET) in her work.
In the future, Dr. Jaworska aims to utilize brain-based indices to optimize treatment of mental illness, with a focus on depressed youth. Her research goals center on exploring the effects of various alternative treatment approaches, including aerobic exercise and stimulation therapies, on neural profiles. Her hope is that this work will lead to new, research-informed treatment options that could help improve mental health outcomes.
Dr. Jaworska has received research funding from various provincial and national granting agencies, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). She currently holds a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant, and is a recipient of IMHR’s Emerging Research Innovators in Mental Health (eRIMh) incubator program.
