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CABHI and CAMH partner to advance innovation in aging and brain health, with focus on mental health for seniors

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The Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), powered by Baycrest, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding confirming their plans to work together in support of innovation focused on aging and brain health, with a particular focus on cognitive and mental health.

CABHI, a Toronto-based global solution accelerator for the aging and brain health sector, provides funding and support to innovators for the development, testing, and dissemination of new ideas and technologies that address unmet brain health and seniors care needs.

As Canada’s leading academic centre dedicated to mental health, CAMH is working to answer the most difficult questions about mental illness, including the causes, biomarkers and treatments for mental illness. CAMH’s world-class research institutes, clinical divisions, and centres of innovation lead hundreds of annual studies to help millions of people recover from depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, dementia and more.

Through this new collaboration, CABHI will share its expertise in scaling and commercializing aging and brain health solutions to support CAMH project teams whose innovations are ready to be tested in real-world settings. These teams will benefit from CABHI’s acceleration services, a suite of tailored services that help innovators and companies grow and scale their solutions.

The collaboration will enable opportunities for collaboration between CAMH researchers and CABHI Scientific Officers – selected researchers who provide scientific expertise to enhance the rigour of CABHI validation trials and help innovators refine their value proposition. Scientific Officers are affiliated with Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute and the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegenration in Aging (CCNA), among other institutions; through this partnership CAMH researchers will also have the opportunity to join the Scientific Officer program.

The two organizations will also collaborate on events and thought leadership initiatives, as well as leverage and strengthen each other’s vast networks.

“Many CABHI projects fall under our Cognitive and Mental Health innovation theme, but we need to do even more to address critical issues at the intersection of cognitive health and mental health,” said Dr. Allison Sekuler, Managing Director, CABHI, Sandra A. Rotman Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience, and Vice-President, Research at Baycrest. “Our collaboration with CAMH fills that critical gap. The partnership will accelerate solutions that increase quality of life for people living with mental health challenges who are also at-risk for or living with Alzheimer’s and related dementias, and their caregivers and families, here in Canada and beyond.”

“CAMH is already a leader in research and clinical care for people struggling with conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias,” said Dr. Damian Jankowicz, Vice President, Information Management, Chief Information Officer and Chief Privacy Officer at CAMH. “We are pleased to collaborate with CABHI to support more innovation, expand our network, and grow our knowledge base. I’m looking forward to the opportunities afforded by this partnership for our researchers and clinicians to learn, mobilize their ideas, and ultimately provide more help and hope for patients.”

CABHI gratefully acknowledges the support of its funders: the Government of Canada through the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, and the Baycrest Foundation.

  • Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI)

    A solution accelerator for the aging and brain health sector, CABHI provides funding and support to innovators for the development, testing, and dissemination of new ideas and technologies that address unmet brain health and seniors’ care needs. Established in 2015, it is the result of the largest investment in brain health and aging in Canadian history. CABHI is a unique collaboration of health care, science, industry, not-for-profit and government partners whose aim is to help improve quality of life for the world’s aging population, allowing older adults to age safely in the setting of their choice while maintaining their cognitive, emotional, and physical well-being.

  • ABOUT CAMH

    CAMH is Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital and a world leading research centre in this field. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental illness and addiction. CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre. For more information, please visit camh.ca or follow @CAMHnews on Twitter.