About Us

Paul Grof, M.D., PhD, FRCPC

Director of the Mood Disorders Centre of Ottawa

Following his graduation in medicine, Paul Grof took his psychiatric training and became specialized in psychiatry in 1962. He worked as a research psychiatrist in the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, and as a fellow in psychoendocrinology of affective disorders in West Germany. In the fall of 1968 Dr. Grof was recruited as research psychiatrist and faculty member at McMaster University, Canada.

Between 1974 and 1977 he helped develop and run Affective disorder Clinics at the Sunnybrook Medical Center at the University of Toronto, and several other Canadian universities. Dr. Grof spent 1977 and 1978 as a Visiting Scientist at the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, initially in a clinical neuropharmacology branch with Dennis Murphy and later in the psychobiology branch with Fred Goodwin.

In l982 Dr. Grof became Director of Research and Education at the Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital, a teaching hospital of McMaster University where he expanded research activities in psychobiology, and established a psychopharmacology research and training center. 1985 -2000 he was active as Expert of the World Health Organization, Mental Health section and chaired both an Expert committee and a Working Group on psychotropic drugs. From 1988 to 1993 Dr. Grof was Clinical Director of the Royal Ottawa Hospital and subsequently directed there clinical and research activities in mood disorders.

He is currently Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and directs Mood Disorders Center of Ottawa. He has published over 400 articles and three books, and received several national and international research awards.

Anne Duffy, M.D., FRCPC

Professor and Senior Clinical Research Scholar, Dalhousie University
Adjunct Professor, McGill University
Associate Director of the Mood Disorders Centre of Ottawa

Dr Duffy was born in Toronto, Ontario. She completed her Honours Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Psychology at McMaster University. Following this, Dr Duffy completed a Masters in Medical Sciences at McMaster University, Faculty of Health Sciences. Her thesis investigated the effects of state and trait anxiety of the quality and quantity of breastmilk in first time mothers.

She started her Doctoral level graduate studies in Neuropsychology at the University of Victoria, but then left this to study Medicine at the University of Calgary. After completing an M.D. degree, Dr Duffy completed a rotating internship at the Rockyview Hospital in Calgary. She then completed medical specialty training in Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. Following this, she completed a 2-year Clinical Research Training Fellowship funded by the Ontario Mental Health Foundation (OMHF) investigating the early course of bipolar disorder in children of affected parents.

Over the past 15 years, Dr. Duffy has developed the high-risk research with grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the OMHF. She has received salary awards from the National Alliance of Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (NARSAD), CIHR and a Canada Research Chair award. Most recently Dr. Duffy has been recruited to Dalhousie University to develop an integrated clinical and research program for youth at risk of or manifesting mood disorders.

Research Team Members

Shannon McCloskey, B.A., M.Ed., C.C.P.A.
Research Coordinator, MDCO

Amanda Helleman, B.A. Hon.
Research Assistant, MDCO

Aggi Hutton, R.N.
Research Assistant, MDCO

Sarah Doucette, Hon. BSc.Hon.
Research Associate, IWK, Halifax

Debbie Elliott, R.N.
Research Nurse, IWK, Halifax