Dr. James Kennedy, Director, Tanenbaum Centre for Pharmacogenetics
“The Tanenbaum Centre is an international leader in gene-guided treatment for mental illness. The Centre serves as a hub from which lab-based discoveries are translated broadly into clinical care. We have provided genetic testing for more than 10,000 patients referred by more than 3,000 family physicians and psychiatrists across Ontario. Our laboratory continues to search for novel genetic variants that show additional ways of predicting how individuals will respond to medications. We see a future where every medication prescription for mental illness is based on a patient’s unique genetic profile, enabling a faster and more effective recovery.”
Research Focus
Identifying new genetic and epigenetic variants involved in treatment response and side-effects to antipsychotics, antidepressants and mood stabilizers.
Design new, improved diagnostic psychiatric pharmacogenetic variant testing panels for patients who have been prescribed, or will be prescribed, antipsychotic and/or antidepressant medication.
Determining the frequencies of known pharmacogenetic variants in two Ontario First Nations populations in collaboration with CAMH’s Institute for Mental Health Policy Research.
Development of a computerized search of electronic medical records, along with artificial intelligence processing, to rapidly track the response and development of side-effects in our study participants.