Dr. Nir Lipsman awarded the 2024 Royal-Mach-Gaensslen Prize for Mental Health Research
Dr. Nir Lipsman, chief of the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program and director of the Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre has been named the winner of this year’s Royal-Mach-Gaensslen Prize for Mental Health Research. The prestigious award, sponsored jointly by the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research at The Royal and the Mach-Gaensslen Foundation of Canada, is awarded to an outstanding mental health researcher enabling future exploration and discovery each year.
Dr. Lipsman’s work addresses one of the most urgent challenges in mental health: finding effective treatments for individuals with treatment-resistant psychiatric conditions. Over the past decade, he has transformed Canada’s psychiatric neuromodulation landscape, leading revolutionary clinical trials that offer hope to patients who have exhausted conventional therapies. His pioneering efforts in deep brain stimulation and non-invasive focused ultrasound target disorders like depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and anorexia nervosa—conditions that have left many without viable options.
“This prize means a great deal to me, personally and professionally,” said Dr. Lipsman. “In being recognized, I want to acknowledge how incredibly privileged I am to work with the team that I do – an outstanding group of clinicians, coordinators, physicists and scientists who helped design and advance the tools we use to care for some of the most vulnerable and sick patients. This is an incredible validation of the work we're doing and a recognition of the Harquail and Sunnybrook team.”
Dr. Lipsman’s multidisciplinary approach bridges neurosurgery, neurology, and psychiatry, providing innovative therapeutic solutions for those most in need. His work has become a lifeline for patients and a vital resource for clinicians, offering novel approaches to some of the most treatment-resistant mental illnesses.
The Royal-Mach-Gaensslen Prize for Mental Health Research provides $100,000 in funding annually to support excellence in scientific rigour, innovative thinking and collaboration.
Read more about the award and Dr. Lipsman’s work in the full press release from The Royal.
