Graduate Diploma in Health Research (GDipHR)

Description 

The Graduate Diploma in Health Research (GDipHR), offered by the University of Toronto MD Program, is a 20-month longitudinal program which engages medical students in a research experience and graduate level coursework. The typical cost for a GDipHR student is $15,000 CAD, with a fifty-fifty contribution between the GDipHR Program and the research supervisor. TDRA will contribute half of the student’s total stipend on behalf of the research supervisor for two research projects from the TDRA community (dementia research-focused). TDRA will use GDipHR’s selection and ranking criteria to determine the successful candidate.

The GDipHR Program runs from the beginning of January of a given year to the end of August of the following year and includes a total of 4 weeks’ vacation.

Apply

The deadline for applications for the 2024-2025 GDipHR Program have now passed. Thank you to everyone who applied. For more information please contact Winnie Qian of TDRA at winnie.qian@camh.ca

Meet the 2023-2024 GDipHR Supervisor & Student

We are pleased to be co-funding GDipHR student Jessica Hira on behalf of research supervisor Dr. Sanjeev Kumar. Their project will use Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG) to assess cortical excitability and inhibition using single and paired pulse TMS paradigms in patients with dementia, in order to understand neurophysiological mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia and to treat them using TMS.

Jessica Hira

Jessica Hira is a first-year medical student at the University of Toronto with an interest in the applications of cortical neurophysiology and neuroimaging to advance our understanding of different brain disorders. During her undergraduate studies, she engaged in research that broadly explored human development, specifically focused on children’s cognitive development and using neuroimaging techniques to identify age-related cortical differences. Alongside having a background in neuroscience, Jessica is skilled in research design and problem-solving.

Sanjeev Kumar

Dr. Sanjeev Kumar is scientist, staff psychiatrist and medical head of geriatric clinical research within the Adult Neurodevelopment and Geriatric Psychiatry Division at Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). He is also an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Dr. Kumar’s research focuses on developing novel biomarkers and treatment interventions for patients with Alzheimer’s disease. He is studying novel markers of neuroplasticity and cognition using TMS and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). He is also studying mechanisms and treatment interventions for neuropsychiatric symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders.

Past GDipHR Students & Supervisors

2023-2024

Student: Julie Midroni
Supervisor: Dr. Andrew Lim

Project Description: This project will use machine learning approaches to link wearable sensor data acquired from older adults participating in various studies to clinical, imaging, and histopathological dementia-related outcomes. 

2022-2023 

Student: Shreya Jha
Supervisor: Dr. Sanjeev Kumar 

Project Title: Abnormal cortical excitability in dementia and its association with brain metabolites and clinical symptoms: TMS –EEG and Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy study

Project Description: The study of cortical neurophysiology is becoming increasingly important in advancing our current understanding of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), including in the development of novel biomarkers and treatment interventions. Cortical excitability is another potential target for novel treatment interventions for cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia. This study uses transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalogram (EEG) to assess cortical excitability and inhibition using single and paired pulse TMS paradigms in people living with dementia. The study aims to understand the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia, and to treat them using Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).