CAMH once again ranked as top mental health research hospital in Canada

On December 11, 2020, Research Infosource released its 2020 rankings for Canada’s Top 40 Research Hospitals, and CAMH has again topped the list as the country’s leading mental health research hospital.

CAMH placed 2nd in its category for ‘hospital intensity’, which analyses research spending as a percentage of total hospital spending. CAMH also ranked among the top four in its category for ‘research intensity’, the amount of research spending per researcher. Ranking 13th overall among Canada’s top 40 research hospitals, CAMH’s position has been rising steadily in recent years, illustrating an increased need, and more opportunities, for research in mental health. 

In 2020, CAMH scientists have engaged in many crucial areas of research advancing our understanding of the human brain, while also leading numerous studies on COVID-19 and its impact on Canadians’ mental health.

Below are a few ways CAMH research has contributed to the understanding of mental health this year:

• Recent groundbreaking research led by CAMH scientists have discovered peptides that interact with proteins associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There are currently no laboratory diagnostic tests for PTSD, and existing treatments have limited efficacy, but these findings provide hope for interventions to treat or event prevent PTSD.
• This year, CAMH researchers examined connections between suicide and mental illness. In a recent study of 20 years of population data, researchers found that the suicide rate for people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) is more than 20 times higher than the general population. 
• In a series of national surveys, CAMH collaborated with research technology company Delvinia to understand the mental health and substance use impacts of COVID-19 over time. The resulting data has provided valuable information about population health trends as the pandemic unfolded, while gaining us a better understanding of the mental health impacts of COVID-19.

Check out the complete list of Canada’s Top 40 Research Hospitals in 2020.

Read how CAMH did in last year’s rankings.

Find out more about research at CAMH.