William G. Honer

Dr. Honer trained in medicine at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and received his MD in 1984. Following a year of internal medicine training at the Vancouver General Hospital, he was a resident in psychiatry at the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University for three years. During the final year of his residency program, and for the next three years, Dr. Honer was a research fellow at Columbia University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he was a member of Dr. Peter Davies’ neuropathology research group.

Dr. Honer moved to Vancouver in 1991, and is now the Jack Bell Chair in Schizophrenia and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia. He is Vice-President, Academic and Strategic Development, BC Mental Health and Addictions Services, and is a consultant psychiatrist. Dr. Honer is also an Honorary Professor in the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Hong Kong, and a Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry in Columbia University in New York.

He received a Scientist Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and has received both the Young Investigator Award (1997) and the Heinz Lehmann Award (2008) from the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Dr. Honer is the author of 215 peer-reviewed publications and has authored the assessment section of the Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines for Schizophrenia.

Dr. Honer’s research interests include mechanism of illness and developing new treatments for schizophrenia, neural plasticity in Alzheimer’s disease, and understanding pathways to co-occurring illnesses including psychosis, addiction and viral infection.

• Translational research: applying neuroscience techniques to investigate brain disorders.
• Clinical research: clinical trials and studies of risk factors for disease.
• Synaptic Proteins and Connectivity in Neuropsychiatric Disorders
• A panel of monoclonal antibodies developed in the lab are used to investigate disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, aging, and Alzheimer’s disease.
• Distinct changes in amount, distribution and interactions of these proteins are found in each illness.
• In vitro systems are being developed to study regulation of the synaptic proteins, and to permit screening for drug effects.
• Schizophrenia and related psychotic illness
• The contribution of genetics, development and experience to the onset of schizophrenia is being studied in a large, catchment-area based population.
• Brain imaging is used to investigate developmental and progressive components of schizophrenia.
• The results of these projects may guide clinical studies of neurodevelopment in patients with schizophrenia, and help define the relevant aspects to study in animal models. Improving the methods of assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients with chronic psychosis provides direct benefit to the patients and their families.
• Clinical trials aim to define treatment responsive and treatment refractory components of psychotic illnesses.
• Aging and dementia
• A large collaborative study is underway to investigate the role of “neural reserve” in brain aging, and the interaction with developing dementia. This study is led by Dr. David Bennett at Rush University in Chicago, and has recruited over 1000 subjects. Brain tissue from over 200 postmortem samples is being studied in my laboratory.
• Substance abuse
• A large collaborative study investigated factors predisposing to developing persistent psychosis following use of methamphetamine. New studies will use brain imaging to investigate the basis for cognitive impairment and persistent psychosis in methamphetamine users, in parallel with animal models.
• A new cohort study will investigate schizophrenia or affective psychosis, and substance induced psychosis in people at high risk for homelessness, living in single room occupancy hotels in Vancouver. The implications for psychosocial function and access to health services will be examined.

Source

Vila-Rodriguez, F., Honer, W. G., Innis, S. M., Wellington, C. L., & Beasley, C. L. (2011). ApoE and cholesterol in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: Comparison of grey and white matter and relation with APOE genotype. Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience : JPN, 36(1), 47-55. PMID: 20964956

Torres, I. J., DeFreitas, V. G., DeFreitas, C. M., Kauer-Sant’Anna, M., Bond, D. J., Honer, W. G., Lam, R.W., & Yatham, L. N. (2010). Neurocognitive functioning in patients with bipolar I disorder recently recovered from a first manic episode. TheJournal of Clinical Psychiatry, 71(9), 1234-1242. PMID: 20361907

Smith, G.N., MacEwan, G.W., Kopala, Lang, D.J., Barr, A.M., Honer, W.G., Ehmann, T.S., Good, K., Thornton, A.E., & Neilson, H. (2010) Prenatal tobacco exposure in first-episode psychosis. Schizophrenia Research, 119(1-3), 271 -272. PMID: 20116216

Procyshyn, R. M., Honer, W. G., Wu, T. K., Ko, R. W., McIsaac, S. A., Young, A. H., Johnson, J.L., & Barr, A. M. (2010). Persistent antipsychotic polypharmacy and excessive dosing in the community psychiatric treatment setting: A review of medication profiles in 435 canadian outpatients. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 71(5), 566-573. PMID: 20361903

Procyshyn, R. M., Barr, A. M., Flynn, S., Schenk, C., Ganesan, S., & Honer, W. G. (2010). Long-acting injectable risperidone in treatment refractory patients: A 14-week open-label pilot study. Schizophrenia Research, 123(2-3), 273-275. PMID: 20688481

Procyshyn, R. M., Barr, A. M., Brickell, T., & Honer, W. G. (2010). Medication errors in psychiatry: A comprehensive review. CNS Drugs, 24(7), 595-609. PMID: 20356315

Pajonk, F. G., Wobrock, T., Gruber, O., Scherk, H., Berner, D., Kaizl, I., Kierer, A., Müller, S., Oest, M., Meyer, T., Backens, M., Schneider-Axmann, T., Thornton, A.E., Honer, W.G., & Falkai, P. (2010). Hippocampal plasticity in response to exercise in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 67(2), 133-143. PMID: 20124113

Hunter, M. J., Hippman, C., Honer, W. G., & Austin, J. C. (2010). Genetic counseling for schizophrenia: A review of referrals to a provincial medical genetics program from 1968 to 2007. American Journal of Medical Genetics.Part A, 152A(1), 147-152. PMID: 20034078

Chen, E. Y., Hui, C. L., Lam, M. M., Chiu, C. P., Law, C. W., Chung, D. W., Tso, S., Pang, E.P., Chan, K.T., Wong, Y.C., Mo, F.Y., Chan, K.P., Yao, T.J., Hung, S.F., & Honer, W. G. (2010). Maintenance treatment with quetiapine versus discontinuation after one year of treatment in patients with remitted first episode psychosis: Randomised controlled trial. BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 341, c4024. PMID: 20724402

Boyda, H. N., Tse, L., Procyshyn, R. M., Honer, W. G., & Barr, A. M. (2010). Preclinical models of antipsychotic drug-induced metabolic side effects. Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, 31(10), 484-497. PMID: 20674990

Dr. Honer received a Scientist Award from CIHR, and has received both the Young Investigator Award (1997) and the Heinz Lehmann Award (2008) from the Canadian College of Neuropsycho-pharmacology.

Dr. Josie Geller obtained her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of British Columbia (UBC). She joined the Department of Psychiatry, UBC, initially as Assistant Professor, and promoted to Associate Professor.

Dr. Geller’s research focuses on improving clinical outcomes in individuals with chronic health conditions, particularly individuals with eating disorders, by targeting intra- and interpersonal factors. Her areas of interest include clinician stance, readiness and motivation for change and self-compassion. Her provincially and nationally funded program of research focuses on assessing and enhancing motivation for change, overcoming barriers to self-compassion, and enhancing factors that contribute to the delivery of collaborative, patient-centered care.

Dr. Geller provides workshops to care providers throughout British Columbia as well as secondary and tertiary care eating disorder facilities around the world. The focus of these workshops is on assessing readiness for treatment, overcoming barriers to self-compassion, and on the application of a collaborative, patient-focused model of care to service delivery and policy-making. Although the workshops are primarily based on her research in the eating disorders, she also provides training in the areas of substance use, concurrent disorders, HIV, and obesity. At UBC, Dr. Geller teaches Motivational Interviewing skills to UBC Psychiatry and Psychology residents. 

• Populations: Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, obesity.
• Treatment modalities: Readiness and motivation therapy, compassion focused therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy.

Peer-reviewed publications

• Research Scholar Award, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, 2000-2005
• Research Senior Scholar Award, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, 2005-2010
• Health Professional Investigator Award, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, 2019-2023
• Dr. Geller authored the BC Clinical Practice Guidelines, which provide best practices for children, youth, and adults with eating disorders. A key feature of the BC Guidelines is a tool that she developed, the Short Treatment Allocation Tool for Eating Disorders (STATED). The STATED is unique in its consideration of patients along independent dimensions that capture the full spectrum of eating disorder presentations in children, youth and adults.
• President, Eating Disorders Association of Canada (2017)
• Director at Large, Eating Disorders Association of Canada (2013 – 2015)
• Editorial Board, Journal of Eating Disorders (2012 – 2020)

Adele Diamond, PhD, FRSC is the Canada Research Chair Tier I Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC, Canada. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, she has been named one of the “2000 Outstanding Women of the 20th Century,” has been listed as one the 15 most influential neuroscientists alive today, and her impact was recently ranked among the top 0.01% of all scientists across all fields. She received her BA from Swarthmore (Phi Beta Kappa), her PhD from Harvard, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale Medical School.

Prof. Diamond co-founded the field of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and continues to be recognized as a world leader in both Psychology and Neuroscience as evidenced by her impact, awards, success in research funding, leadership roles, and abundant invitations to speak across disciplines, professions, and nations. She has held federal research grants continuously for over 40 years and overseen over $24 million in research funding. She has given over 600 keynote addresses and invited talks, including at the White House and to the Dalai Lama as well as in 38 countries across 6 continents. Her work has been cited over 64,000 times and has an h-index of 74 (Google Scholar, Dec. 2024). She heads the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Program at UBC, has served on over 25 external advisory boards and 10 editorial boards, including those of all 3 major journals in Developmental Psychology.

Prof. Diamond’s specialty is executive functions, which depend on the brain’s prefrontal cortex and interrelated neural regions. Executive functions enable us to resist temptations and automatic impulsive reactions, stay focused, mentally play with ideas, reason, problem-solve, flexibly adjust to changed demands or priorities, and see things from new and different perspectives. Prof. Diamond’s lab studies how executive functions are affected by biological factors (such as genes and neurochemistry) and by environmental ones (for example, impaired by stress or improved by interventions).

She has demonstrated that executive functions emerge and can be assessed as early as the first year of life, and shown that interventions can improve executive functions even in very young children. Her work has demonstrated ways to help children grasp concepts and succeed at tasks long thought beyond their ability and has changed how people think about cognitive development in emphasizing the importance of inhibiting reactions that get in the way of demonstrating knowledge that is already present.

Her work on the unusual properties of the dopamine system in prefrontal cortex led to her identifying the biological mechanism causing executive function deficits in children treated for phenylketonuria (PKU) and definitively documenting those deficits and their effect on the brain, resulting in guidelines for the medical treatment of PKU changing around the globe – an example of how changing behaviour (diet) can affect neurochemistry and brain function. Global changes to clinical practice followed two other subsequent discoveries by her. Thus, on three separate occasions her discoveries have led to improvements in the treatment of medical disorders.

More recently, Prof. Diamond has derived new principles for how to improve executive functions and debunked previously-accepted ones. She offers a markedly different perspective from traditional medical practice in holding that treating physical health, without also addressing social and emotional health, is less efficient or efficacious. Prof. Diamond also offers a markedly different perspective from mainstream education and has shown that focusing exclusively on training cognitive skills is less efficient, and ultimately less successful, than also addressing social, emotional, spiritual, and physical needs. She has shown that many issues are not simply education issues or health issues; they are both.

She has also been instrumental in bringing researchers and practitioners together across fields and in jump-starting countless collaborations. One of her many humanitarians projects was recently recognized by the establishment of the “Adele Diamond Foundation” in her honour to further efforts to help Maasai children receive a quality education.

Effects of Low-dose versus Normal-dose Psychostimulants on Executive Functions in Children with ADHD

The research is based on the hypothesis that the stimulant dose for controlling hyperactivity in patients with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is too high for aiding cognition. Most ADHD patients on stimulants are taking a dose targeting behavioural dysregulation (parents base feedback to doctors on the child’s behavior; no one uses cognitive tests to determine dose). The research will test the prediction that ADHD patients will perform better on tests of attention, working memory, reading and math when on half their dose. Read more…

A follow-up to the MPH studies with ADHD kids and normal adults – to look at effects of a low dose of MPH on the EFs and academic performance of stressed university students. Who does MPH help and who does it hinder?

The optimal level of the neurotransmitter, dopamine (DA), in prefrontal cortex (PFC) is an intermediate level. Too much or too little is no good. Psychostimulants like MPH increase DA in PFC. Stress increases DA in PFC, and many university students are stressed these days. The research hypothesizes that the combination of stress + MPH will increase the levels of DA in PFC best optimum and impair EFs and hence school performance, and that this will be particularly pronounced for students with the COMT genotype associated with more DA in PFC. Read more…

Can training balance, or enjoying music, improve children’s ability to pay attention, solve problems and/or control their behavior?

What if just 15 minutes a day, at home, doing simple activities, could improve a child’s executive functions as well as his or her balance? The same or overlapping brain regions underlie both cognitive and motor functions. Read more…

Possible Benefits to Mood, Quality of Life, Memory, and Executive Functions of Beloved Music with or without Social Interaction or Beloved Writings (e.g., Poetry, Stories, Psalms) for Adults Experiencing Mild Cognitive Decline

Music on iPods has been found to tap wells of emotion in older adults with significant cognitive decline, bringing back memories and remarkable cognitive reserve that had been thought lost. Read more…

The Effect of an Enriched Karate Program on Executive Functions and Socio-Emotional and Academic Skills in Typically-Developing Children

Unlike other approaches to improving executive functions (EFs), traditional martial arts do not focus solely on training EFs or physical fitness but also address character and mindfulness. To further enhance the benefit of traditional martial arts for social-emotional well-being and EFs, graduate student and experienced TMA instructor, Fatimah Bahrami, created a comprehensive Traditional Cognitive Karate Program (TCKP), incorporating social and emotional training into the philosophy of Karate, and more cognitive skills and EF practice into Karate training routines. Read more…

Peer-reviewed publications

• 2025
  • Awarded an honorary Doctorate by the Erikson Institute’s Graduate School in Child Development, Chicago, Il.
• 2024
  • Awarded an honorary Doctor of Science honoris causa by Cambridge University, reserved for individuals of outstanding national and international achievement in their field
• 2023
  • Arthur L. Benton Lecture. New York Neuropsychology Group
  • Faculty Merit Award, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
• 2022
  • Recipient, Huttenlocher Award. The Flux Society for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience’s most prestigious award honors a senior scientist who’s made foundational, major contributions to the field
  • Elsevier Distinguished Lecturer. Developmental Neurotoxicology Society
  • Faculty Merit Award, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
  • Awarded Lifetime Membership in the American Psychological Association
• 2021
  • Faculty Merit Award, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
• 2020
  • Awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science by Swarthmore College: the #1 ranked small college in the US VIDEO
  • Voted `Super Duper Neuroscientist of the Year’ by the students in Prof. Kathryn Murphy’s undergraduate neuroscience class at McMaster Univ., Hamilton, ON (08 Dec)
  • “Executive Functions,” published in the Annual Review of Psychology back in 2013 was among the 10 most downloaded papers in 2020 from all Annual Reviews across all disciplines.
• 2019
  • Outstanding Academic Performance (OAP) award by the Dean of Medicine.
  • The Bernice Grafstein Lecture in Neuroscience, McGill Univ., Montreal, QC
  • Diamond’s impact ranked as among the top 0.01% of all scientists across all scientific fields according to a new analysis. See: Ioannidis, J. P., Baas, J., Klavans, R., & Boyack, K. W. (2019). A standardized citation metrics author database annotated for scientific field. PLOS Biology, 17,1-6. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3000384
  • One of our publications was selected as 1 of the 23 most noteworthy publications in Pediatric Exercise in 2018 and 1 of the 2 most important in Physical Activity & Cognition in 2018 [doi.org/10.1123/pes.2019-0010]. The publication thus honored is: Diamond, A. & Ling, D. S. (2019). Aerobic-exercise and resistance-training interventions… published in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience [doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2018.05.001]
  • The Bernice Grafstein Lecture in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, QC.
• 2018
  • Outstanding Academic Performance Award from UBC Faculty of Medicine
  • First Annual North America Educateurs sans Frontières Lecture. Crossway Community, Washington, DC.
  • 10th Annual Midsummer Public Lecture. Copenhagen, Denmark (sponsored by Elsass Institute & the University of Copenhagen).
• 2016
  • Received the International Mind, Brain and Education Society (IMBES) Translation Award
  • This award recognizes senior scholars who’ve made significant progress towards strengthening links between research and practice translating research into practice in traditional or non-traditional contexts.
  • (This is the highest award that society gives.)
  • Recipient, Faculty Merit Award, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
  • Our article in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience was the 2nd top-rated paper in the journal
  • Centennial Niemeyer Lecture. Bank Street School for Children, NYC, NY
  • Lecture – Performance co-presented with the children of the California Dance Institute at Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
• 2015
  • Honorary degree (Doctor of Philosophy Honoris Causa) conferred by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel. VIDEO 1 (3 min), VIDEO 2 (1 hour 8 min)
  • Zlotowski Neuroscience Lecture, Ben Gurion Univ. of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
• 2014
  • Recognized as one of the 15 most influential neuroscientists alive today by Online Psychology Degree Guide Only woman in the top 23. One of only two Canadians in the top 30.
  • Received the Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contributions to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society from the American Psychological Association. (Aug.) The Bronfenbrenner Award is given to an individual whose work has, over a lifetime career, contributed not only to the science of developmental psychology, but who has also worked to apply developmental psychology to society.
  • Elected a Fellow of Division 1 (General Psychology) of the Am. Psychological Assoc. (APA)
• 2013
  • Gertrude Weigum Hinsz Lecture, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
  • Visiting Professor. Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel
  • Recipient, Faculty Merit Award, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
• 2012
  • Pease Family Scholar Lecture, Dept. of Kinesiology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
  • Zangwill Lecture in Experimental Psychology, Univ. of Cambridge, UK
  • Diamond’s article in Current Directions in Psych. Sci. appeared in Psychology Progress, which alerts the scientific community to breaking journal articles considered the best in psych.research
  • Profiled in a textbook titled Child Psychology, 3rd edition, by Alastair J. Younger, Ross Vasta, Scott A. Adler, Scott A. Miller, & Shari Ellis – in the ‘Canadian Contributions’ section – publisher: John Wiley & Sons
  • Public Address, sponsored by the Dalai Lama Centre, Vancity Theatre, Vancouver, BC
  • Worldwide Who’s Who: 2012- present
• 2011
  • Inaugural speaker in Visiting Distinguished Scholar Program, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute & School of Medicine, Roanoke, VA
  • Frijda Public Lecture, Cognitive Science Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Logan Lecture, Centennial Academy, Montreal, QC
  • Pickering Lecture, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON
  • Renewal – seven years – of Tier 1 Canada Research Chair
  • Recipient, Faculty Merit Award, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
• 2010
  • Valedictory Address, “Conference on Science, Spirituality, and Education;” presided over by the Dalai Lama, to advise the Government of Sikkim in its endeavor to overhaul the provincial education system so that they educate not only the head but also the heart, Gangtok, Sikkim, India
  • Recipient, Faculty Merit Award, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
  • Jane Holmes Bernstein Lecture in Developmental Neuropsychology, Children’s Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, MA
  • Robbie Case Memorial Lecture, University of Toronto’s Institute of Child Study, Toronto, ON
  • Featured at Annual UBC Gala, “Celebrate Research Week,” a short video vignette was created for this on Prof. Diamond and her research
• 2009
  • Recipient, YWCA Woman of Distinction Award (recognized nationally as an important award for women)
  • Recipient, Inaugural Distinguished Achievement Award for Service to the University and Community, awarded by the Faculty of Medicine, UBC
  • Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC)
  • Elected a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Psychologists (SEP), the oldest honorary society for psychology
  • Recipient, Faculty Merit Award, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
  • One of three scientists invited to speak on stage with the Dalai Lama and another Nobel Peace Laureate, Mairead Maguire, on “Heart-Mind Education: Enhancing academic, social, and emotional competence” at the Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver; broadcast live worldwide by CTV as part of the Vancouver Peace Summit VIDEO
  • One of a handful of scientists invited to meet with the Dalai Lama for a week at his official residence in Dharamsala, India
  • Featured Researcher at the Board of Governor’s Meeting, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
  • Helen H. Molinari Memorial Lecture in Neuroscience, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY
  • John P. Zubek Memorial Lecture, Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg
• 2008
  • Named a William James Distinguished Lecturer by the Association for Psychological Science
  • RO Jones Memorial Speaker, Canadian Psychiatric Assoc. Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC
  • Birch Lecture, International Neuropsychological Society (INS) Annual meeting, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Recipient, Faculty Merit Award, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
  • Who’s Who Among Executives and Professionals, and in the 2008-2009 “Honors Edition”
• 2007
  • Opening of the Academic Year Address, Maastricht University, Netherlands VIDEO
  • Recipient, Faculty Merit Award, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
  • Research Grant from the Institute of Education Sciences [IES] (term: 2007-2011)
• 2006
  • Elected a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS)
  • Recipient, Faculty Merit Award, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
  • Alberta Health FMR Visiting Scholar, Alberta Children’s Hospital, University of Alberta, & Hotckiss Brain Institute, Calgary, AB
  • Woman of Distinction Finalist, YWCA Vancouver, BC
• 2005
  • Elected to the Board of Governors of the International Neuropsychological Society (INS)
  • Recipient, Faculty Merit Award, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
  • Brain Awareness Week Lecturer, McMaster University’s Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, Dept. of Psychology, and Brain-Body Institute, Hamilton, ON
  • Henry Dunn Lecture, the Northwest Pacific Pediatric Neurology Society Annual Meeting
  • Our paper in the American Journal of Psychiatry was ranked #2 in the Hidden Jewels Top 10 in Neuroscience by the Faculty of 1000.
  • Hira Panikkar Memorial Lecture, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, BC Children’s Hospital
• 2004
  • Awarded a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair
  • Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Award
  • Invited Workshop at joint Internat’l Neuropsych. Society/ASSBI conference, Brisbane, Australia
• 2003
  • Elected to the Executive Board of the Cognitive Development Society
  • Visiting Professor, University of California, San Francisco
• 2002
  • Invited Workshop on “The Neuropsychology of Treated PKU,” International Neuropsychological Society (INS) Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON
• 2000
  • 21st Century Award for Achievement, International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, UK, named one of the “2000 Outstanding Women of the 20th Century,”one of the first so honoured.
  • Zlotowski Neuroscience Lecture, Annual Retreat of the Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben Gurion Univ.
  • Named one of the “2000 Outstanding Women of the 20th Century,” IBC, Cambridge, UK.
• 1997
  • Named a Distinguished Scientific Lecturer by the American Psychological Association:
  • Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC
  • Western Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA
  • Elected a Fellow of APA, Division 6 (Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology) “in recognition of outstanding & unusual contributions to the science and profession of psychology”
• 1995
  • Invited Instructor, Am. Academy of Neurology course on Behavioral Neurology, Seattle, WA.
  • Presented the Master Lecture on Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Indianapolis, IN.
  • “A Master Lecture is intended as a sort of tutorial in a particular field….The individuals invited to deliver these major addresses are people who are widely recognized as leaders in their fields….”
• 1994
  • Presented day-long workshop on “Child Neuropsychology: Cognitive Development & Disorders,” in Brisbane, at invitation of the Australian Psychological Society
  • Tjossem Memorial Lecture at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
  • McDonnell-Pew Visiting Fellow at the Salk Institute and UCSD, La Jolla, CA.
• 1993
  • Elected a Fellow of APA, Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) “in recognition of outstanding & unusual contributions to the science and profession of psychology”
• 1992
  • Harris Visiting Professor, Committee on Developmental Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
• 1991
  • Invited Instructor at the McDonnell Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience, Hanover, New Hampshire (topic: Attention)
  • Invited Instructor at the European Training Programme in Brain & Behavior Research, Zuoz, Switzerland (topic: Motor Development)
• 1990
  • Invited by NSF to help select the Presidential Young Investigator Award winners
  • Young Faculty Award of the Natural Science Association, University of Pennsylvania
• 1989
  • Convener, Conference on the Development and Neural Bases of Higher Cognitive Functions. Funded by McDonnell Foundation, NIMH (Neuroscience and
  • Behavioral Research Branches), EPA, & U. of P. New York Academy of Sciences, publisher.
  • Discussant, Minnesota Symposium in Child Psychology, Minneapolis, MN.
• 1988-1990
  • Lilly Foundation Faculty Teaching Fellow
• 1983-1986
  • NIMH Postdoctoral Fellowship #F32 MH09007
• 1983
  • NSF travel grant to attend a NATO Advanced Study Institute, Lyons, France
• 1982
  • Sloan Foundation postdoctoral fellowship award
• 1981
  • Radcliffe Grant for Graduate Women
• 1980
  • NSF Doctoral Dissertation Grant #BNS 8013-4471978
• 1977
  • NIMH Pre-doctoral Traineeship in Cross-Cultural Psychological Res. #MH14088-03
  • Graduate Student Research Award, Psychology Department
• 1975
  • NSF Graduate Fellowship
  • Danforth Graduate Fellowship
  • Graduated with highest honor in Swarthmore College’s course program
  • Research Grant from the Philadelphia Fellowship Commission

Dr. Chakrabarty is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research health professional investigator, and consultant psychiatrist at the Mood Disorders Centre of Excellence at UBC Hospital. Her expertise is in cognitive functioning in mood disorders, with a focus on the etiology, contributors and functional implications of cognitive dysfunction in depression and bipolar disorder.

Dr. Chakrabarty is involved in research to develop novel therapeutic strategies to address mood related cognitive deficits, and is currently principal investigator on a collaborative initiative with the National Research Council Canada to develop a virtual reality cognitive remediation program for use in individuals with mood disorders. She is also interested in understanding the role of cognitive-affective changes in depression and BD, and is co-investigator on studies with researchers at UBC’s Department of Psychology examining alterations in reward sensitivity and avoidance behaviours across the spectrum of mood disorders.

Her research and clinical interests are in cognitive dysfunction, virtual reality cognitive retraining, bipolarity, and psychotherapy approaches for mood disorders.

Mood Disorders Centre

Peer-reviewed publications

Dr. Clare Beasley studied in the United Kingdom. She earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Sheffield, with postdoctoral training in neuropathology at the Institute of Psychiatry in London. She joined the UBC Department of Psychiatry as Assistant Professor in 2007 and was promoted to Associate Professor at UBC and heads her own lab www.bcchr.ca/cbeasley. Dr. Beasley is also actively involved in undergraduate medical education including the Summer Immersion Program. She is a member of the Canadian Network for Research in Schizophrenia and Psychoses.

The major aim of Dr. Clare Beasley’s research is to identify changes in the brains of individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder that may elucidate the etiology of these disorders and provide clues to novel treatments. Current projects focus on white matter pathology and inflammation. In addition, we study the effects of anti-psychotic medications on the brain.

She has received the Michael Smith New Investigator Award for Research in Schizophrenia and a Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Independent Investigator.

Peer-reviewed publications

@BeasleyLabUBC