The Douglas Hospital Research Centre: celebrating 25 years of innovation in mental health research.

From Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2004, international and local experts and friends joined staff in a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Douglas Hospital Research Centre (DHRC). Located in the Borough of Verdun in Montréal, Que., the DHRC is the child of the Douglas Hospital and is affiliated with McGill University. It has evolved from modest beginnings to become one of Canada’s premier research institutes in the fields of neuroscience, psychiatry and mental health. It is also the head office of the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction, one of the 13 institutes of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and of the Montréal Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research in Mental Health. Having been at the DHRC for over 20 of those 25 years, I can attest to the dramatic changes that have occurred since the early days. There are now over 45 principal investigators and 180 trainees among a total of more than 300 staff members. From day 1, the focus has been on using a multidisciplinary, comprehensive biopsychosocial approach to tackle the most difficult research problems and issues in mental health. The papers in this special edition of JPN, representing just a small fraction of the talks given by invited speakers and presenters at a 2-day scientific event, commemorate the DHRC’s 25th anniversary. They speak to the ambition of the DHRC’s founders and the dedication and successful endeavours of its many researchers and their international colleagues. Because JPN is the official publication of the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CCNP), I wish to acknowledge the great impact of this organization in promoting research in neuropsychopharmacology in Canada. I also wish to congratulate past DHRC winners of CCNP awards, including Samarthji Lal, Howard Steiger, Micheal Meaney and myself for the prestigious Heinz Lehmann Award; Barbara Suranyi-Cadotte, Alain Gratton, Judes Poirier, Ridha Joober, Satyabrata Kar, Claire-Dominique Walker and Gustavo Turecki for the Young Investigator Award, N.P. Vasavan Nair for the CCNP Medal; and Serge Gauthier, Judes Poirier, Samarthji Lal and myself for the Innovations in Neuropsychopharmacology Award.