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Dec 20, 2021

Graduate Diploma in Health Research (GDipHR) Announcement

About the TDRA, Announcements, Partnerships, Research, TDRA Investigators

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. GDipHR students are co-funded by the GDipHR program and research supervisors.

This year, the Toronto Dementia Research Alliance (TDRA) was able to co-fund the top ranked GDipHR student conducting dementia research under a TDRA investigator. We are pleased to be co-funding GDipHR student Shreya Jha on behalf of research supervisor Dr. Sanjeev Kumar. Details of their research project are found below.

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

Field of Research: Biomarkers and treatment interventions for cognitive disorders

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).

Shreya Jha

Shreya Jha is a first-year medical student at the University of Toronto with a keen interest in neurology, dementia, and use of the arts in health practices. Shreya is engaged in numerous research endeavors combining music and the health sciences, including exploring connections between music and dementia and an investigation of the relationship between autonomic modulation of the heart and performance anxiety.

Sanjeev Kumar

Dr. Sanjeev Kumar is a Clinician Scientist, Staff Psychiatrist, and Medical Head of Geriatric Clinical Research at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). He is also an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on the development of novel biomarkers and treatment interventions for people living with dementia.

We thank all the TDRA investigators who submitted dementia research projects to the GDipHR program during this application cycle. We encourage the TDRA community to continue to be active in GDipHR as we continue to co-fund successful candidates.

For more details on the GDipHR program, please visit: https://md.utoronto.ca/graduate-diploma-health-research-gdiphr

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