Biography

The 2011 Young Investigator Award will be presented to Dr. Zafiris Daskalakis at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology in Montreal, Quebec. The Young Investigator Award, sponsored by AstraZeneca Canada, is designed to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of research in neuropsychopharmacology by a young basic or clinical investigator in Canada.

Dr. Zafiris J. Daskalakis was born and raised in Toronto. He initially started his undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto and completed medical school at Queen's University in 1994. He subsequently entered the residency training in Psychiatry at the University of Toronto which he completed in 1999. While still a resident, Dr. Daskalakis began graduate studies in the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto, supervised by Drs. Shitij Kapur (Imaging/Psychiatry) and Robert Chen (Neurophysiology). He completed fellowship training and his PhD in 2002 at which point he started as an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. Dr. Daskalakis was promoted to Associate Professor of Psychiatry in 2007 and is presently the director of the Brain Stimulation Research and Treatment Program at Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. With an expertise in the neurophysiology of severe psychiatric disorders, his research laboratory uses magnetic brain stimulation to study the role of cortical inhibition and plasticity as potential pathophysiological mechanisms in schizophrenia and depression. Dr. Daskalakis also conducts treatment studies using electroconvulsive therapy and repetitive transcranial magnetic brain stimulation (rTMS) for refractory symptoms in these disorders. He is also director of research in the Schizophrenia Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and runs an outpatient practice all the while supervising numerous post-doctoral fellows, clinician scientist residents, graduate and undergraduate students. Finally, Dr. Daskalakis is a dedicated husband and father to a son and daughter, ages 12 and 9. He is also an avid athlete, involved in hockey, soccer and downhill skiing which he enjoys most often with his family.

Dr. Zafiris Daskalakis is undoubtedly a most worthy recipient of the CCNP's 2011 Young Investigator Award. Congratulations to Dr. Daskalakis!