Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA)
Who We Are
The best way to learn about who we are is to understand our mandate, our mission, and our vision of how our Institute can enhance the quality of life for all Canadians.
Mandate: INMHA supports research that enhances knowledge of the brain - mental health, neurological health, vision, hearing and cognitive functioning. Our goal is to reduce the burden of brain illness through prevention strategies, screening, diagnosis, treatment, support system and palliation. We will improve understanding of human thought and emotion, behaviour, sensation (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell) perception, learning, and memory.
Vision: The INMHA believes that innovative, ethically responsible research will provide new knowledge of the biological and socio-cultural processes underlying neurological, mental and addictive disorders.
Mission: To foster excellence in innovative, ethically responsible research in Canada that aims to increase our knowledge of the functioning and disorders of the brain and the mind, the spinal cord, the sensory and motor systems, as well as mental health, mental illness and all forms of addiction. The INMHA seeks to translate this new knowledge into a better quality of life for all Canadians through improved health outcomes, health promotion and health care services.
Building on our International Reputation
By developing and advocating our vision, we've created a unique and innovative research model. Our mandate, for example, is reflected in eight separate groups at the US-based National Institutes of Health (NIH). Building unity among our scientists constitutes the Institute's greatest strength. We are taking that vision to the world. Below is a list of major international initiatives we have had the privilege to undertake.
- Advisory Board Focus Group on International Affairs
- Research partnership agreement with Mexico on the study of psychiatry and neurology
- Partnerships with the Washington, D.C.-based National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Fogarty International Center (FIC) on various initiatives, including stigma and global health, tobacco, and brain research in developing countries
- Numerous meetings with NIH institutes and other international partners, including the Society for Neuroscience (SfN), US-based organization which represents over 30,000 neuroscientists from around the world, including about 2,000 Canadians
- Institute representation and participation in the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting in Orlando in 2002
- Publication of a highly distributed paper about INMHA and the Canadian experiment in TINS (Trends In Neurosciences)
- Partnership negotiations with US-based NGOs: National Alliance for Autism Research, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, Parkinson's Disease Foundation, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
- Participation in and presentations to national and international meetings of brain-related research groups, including the Society for Neuroscience, Collegium Internationale NeuroPsychopharmacologium (CINP), the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
- Collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) on issues related to mental health
- Renewed membership at IBRO, allowing Canada to rejoin the important international organization that was incorporated in Ottawa in 1961
