Yasser Ad-Dabbagh, Dr.

Ph.D. Student -

I am a child psychiatrist and presently enrolled in the PhD in Neuroscience program of the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University. The areas of research that most appeal to me are the mind-brain interface studies, and understanding how the environment influences brain structure and function, and vice versa. My interests are in working with cutting-edge MRI methods that allow (in prospective studies) an understanding of the dynamic pattern of anatomical brain development in children, while correlating it with psychological development demonstrated by behavioral measures. These computational image-processing methods have been, and continue to be developed at the MNI, especially in Prof. Alan Evans’s laboratory. My current research aims to demonstrate the correlation between anatomical and functional brain development through corticometric studies (e.g., by studying cortical thickness maps) generated through the use of the latest advances in the image processing world. Elucidating norms for cortical thickness development is one goal I’m pursuing. In addition, I aim to demonstrate the differences in anatomical brain development (e.g., changes in cortical thickness maps) between normal children and clinical populations.One example I am presently looking into is the comparison between normal controls and children with childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS). This is research being done in collaboration with Dr. Rapoport’s group at the NIMH. Concurrently, I’m doing similar work but with data from adult schizophrenia populations in collaboration with Dr. Hulshoff Pol’s group at the The Structural Neuroimaging section of the University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands.Other areas of investigation that I plan to get involved in include autism, Tourette’s syndrome, and ADHD. I hope to be able to compare the longitudinal changes in these children’s cortical thickness in correlation with changes in their cognitive and psychological functions.My theses is co-supervised by Prof. Evans and Prof. Eric Fombonne. Dr. Evans is a preeminent international leader in the field of brain-imaging research, and Prof. Fombonne is renowned for his psychiatric research, particularly with regards to autism.