Nicholas Neufeld

Administrative Assistant: Jovanka Skocic (aka Jo), Jovanka.Skocic@camh.ca

Research Synopsis

Dr Nicholas Neufeld is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, and Clinician Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The core mission of Dr Neufeld’s research program is to investigate the neurobiology of severe mental illness across the lifespan and develop biomarkers, with a specific focus on schizophrenia and depression. Dr Neufeld’s research philosophy centers on integrating multimodal neuroimaging measures within clinical research to develop a comprehensive and impactful understanding of the mechanisms underlying treatment trajectories. An example of this work is the Magnetic Seizure Therapy for Schizophrenia – Neurocircuitry (MAST-Neuro) study funded by a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant (PI: Nicholas Neufeld). This study is embedded within the MAST-Trial, a federally funded clinical trial that compares electroconvulsive therapy and magnetic seizure therapy for clozapine and non-clozapine treatment augmentation in patients with treatment resistant-schizophrenia. MAST-Neuro aims to identify neuroimaging biomarkers of therapeutic effects and cognitive side effects in the ongoing MAST-Trial. Fundamentally, the MAST-Trial is positioned to lead to an indication for MST as a next-generation therapy for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, thereby increasing the number of therapeutic options available to the most severely ill patients with schizophrenia. MAST-Neuro is poised to improve our mechanistic understanding of the risks and benefits of this novel brain stimulation intervention and bring the field one step closer to personalized medicine.