Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program

Education:

• B.Sc., 2005, psychology, Dalhousie University, Canada
• MA, 2009, clinical psychology (neuropsychology), York University, Canada
• PhD, 2015, clinical psychology (neuropsychology), York University
• Postdoctoral fellowship, 2018, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, U.S.

Appointments and Affiliations:

• Scientist, Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute
• Neuropsychology lead, Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
• Assistant professor, Department of Medicine (Neurology), University of Toronto
• Associate member, Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Science (GDRS), University of Toronto
• Associate member, Graduate Department of Psychological Clinical Science, University of Toronto Scarborough

Research Foci:

• Neuromodulation
• Neuropsychology
• Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias
• Vascular health

Research Summary:

Dr. Rabin’s research has two primary directions.

1. As the Neuropsychology lead in the Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation, Dr. Rabin’s research characterizes cognitive, behavioural, and psychosocial changes associated with novel neuromodulation strategies. This includes low intensity focused ultrasound (FUS) to open up the blood brain barrier in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and high intensity FUS to treat severe psychiatric and neurological conditions, such as depression, OCD, and tremor
2. Another line of her research combines multi-modal neuroimaging (e.g., MRI, PET) with sensitive cognitive measures to better understand modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Dr. Rabin was recently awarded a CIHR grant that will investigate risk factors for cognitive impairment in a multi-ethnic cohort, with a specific focus on cardiovascular risk factors and markers of cerebrovascular injury. This research is being carried out in close collaboration with Maged Goubran (co-PI), Sandra Black, and other colleagues at Sunnybrook.

Dr. Rabin is currently recruiting graduate students. Students can apply through one of two graduate programs at the University of Toronto:

1. Clinical Psychology at UTSC, or
2. Rehabilitation Sciences

If you are interested in applying, please contact Dr. Rabin at jennifer.rabin@sri.utoronto.ca.

Selected Publications:

See current publications list at PubMed.

1. Rabin, JS, Davidson, B, Giacobbe, P, Hamani, C, Cohn, M, Illes, J, Lipsman, N. (2020). Neuromodulation for major depressive disorder: innovative measures to capture efficacy and outcomes. The Lancet Psychiatry. Epub ahead of print.
2. Davidson, B, Hamani, C, Meng, Y, Baskaran, A, Sharma, S, Abrahao, A, Richter, MA, Levitt, A, Giacobbe, P, Lipsman, N, Rabin, JS. (2020). Examining cognitive change following magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound capsulotomy for psychiatric illness. Translational Psychiatry. Epub ahead of print.
3. Rabin, JS*, Klein, H*, Kirn, DR, Schultz, AP, Yang, H-S, Hampton, O, Jiang, S, Buckley, RF, Viswanathan, A, Hedden, T, Pruzin, J, Yau, W-Y, Guzman-Velez, E, Quiroz, YT, Properzi, M, Marshall, GA, Rentz, DM, Johnson, KA, Sperling, RA, Chhatwal, JP. (2020). Physical activity moderates the association of amyloid burden on longitudinal cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. JAMA Neurology, 76(10), 1203-1210. *authors contributed equally
4. Rabin, JS*, Yang, H-S*, Schultz, AP, Hanseeuw, BJ, Marshall, GA, Hedden, T, Kilpatrick, E, Klein, H, Buckley, RF, Properzi, MJ, Rao, V, Kirn, DR, Rentz, DM, Johnson, KA, Sperling, RA, Chhatwal, JP. (2019). Vascular risk and β-amyloid are synergistically associated with cortical tau. Annals of Neurology, 85, 272-279. *authors contributed equally
5. Rabin, JS, Schultz, AP, Hedden, T, Viswanathan, A, Marshall, GA, Kilpatrick, E, Klein, H, Buckley, RF, Yang, H-S, Properzi, M, Rao, V, Kirn, DR, Papp, KV, Rentz, DM, Johnson, KA, Sperling, RA, Chhatwal, JP. (2018). Interactive associations of vascular risk and β-amyloid burden with cognitive decline in clinically normal elderly individuals: findings from the Harvard Aging Brain Study. JAMA Neurology, 75(9), 1124-1131

Related News and Stories:

• Study shows well-established protective gene for Alzheimer’s only safeguards against cognitive decline in men (March 30, 2023)
• CIHR Project grant: Rabin received a 5-year CIHR project grant to examine risk factors for cognitive impairment in a multi-ethnic cohort. (September, 23, 2020)
• JAMA Neurology recognizes Dr. Rabin’s publication as one of the year’s most important papers. Rabin’s paper showing that engaging in physical activity can delay the progression of Alzheimer’s disease was ranked among the most important research articles published in JAMA Neurology in 2019 and it was the second “most talked about article” published in JAMA Neurology in 2019. (Jan. 24, 2020)
• Exercise may delay progression of Alzheimer's disease: study: Daily physical activity shown to slow amyloid beta-related cognitive decline. (July 22, 2019)
• Awarded 2019 Human Amyloid Imaging Young Investigator award (January 18, 2019)
• Vascular risk factors interact with amyloid-beta levels to increase age-related cognitive decline (May 21, 2018)