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The Great Canadian Brain Gain
Baycrest draws the world’s top scientists and clinicians to better understand brain function and brain disorders related to aging.
Remember when a steady stream of Canadian academics and professionals flocked to the United States throughout the 1990s? It was called the brain drain and it stirred up considerable concern and debate at the turn of this century. Well, at Baycrest a similar sounding but vastly different trend has evolved over the last decade.
In stark contrast to a brain drain, Baycrest’s Research Centre for Aging and the Brain, which includes the world-renowned Rotman Research Institute (Rotman) and Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit (KLARU), is revelling in a brain gain.
“There’s been a critical mass of people from [the United States] who are interested in the same kinds of research I’m interested in – the brain and aging – who have joined Baycrest,” explains Dr. Cheryl Grady, a Rotman senior scientist and assistant director. “It’s the best place for me to do this kind of research and I have never regretted the decision to come here.”
Indeed, a bounty of geriatric and brain researchers from the United States has made Baycrest their professional home over the last decade. Grady, who is also a professor in the psychology and psychiatry departments at the University of Toronto (U of T), arrived at Rotman in 1996.
A native Tennessean, Grady had spent 16 years working in Maryland before choosing to cross the border. “It wasn’t really that much of a culture shock,” she reveals. “I didn’t have to learn a new language and though there are differences between Canada and the United States, I had a fairly good idea of what to expect before I came here.”
Over her 10 years with Rotman, Grady says the institute has grown by leaps and bounds. “The research thrust at Baycrest has grown enormously over the last few years and as a result, our international reputation has grown with it,” she explains.
That reputation, coupled with a positive sabbatical experience in Toronto in 1995, prompted Dr. Lynn Hasher to join the Baycrest team in 2000. “I had a wonderful year here on sabbatical and Baycrest is one of the world’s leading places to do work on both cognition and aging - my own areas of expertise - so I eventually decided I would really like to return here,” relates the senior scientist at the Rotman and professor of psychology at U of T.
Highly regarded for her findings on how attention regulates memory, Hasher says Baycrest’s blend of research and clinical application is a feature that distinguishes it from other institutions. “Baycrest provides the opportunity to link basic work to applied circumstances,” says Hasher, who is also a professor of marketing at the Rotman School of Management. “I think that is quite unique and very special.”
Since working here, Hasher notes Baycrest’s reputation has increased significantly, due in part to the expansion of its research resources, such as the inclusion of neuropharmacology research and the Brain Health Centre Clinics. “It’s gotten to be an even richer environment than it was when I first came here,” she enthuses.
“The research thrust at Baycrest has grown enormously over the last few years and as a result, our international reputation has grown with it,” former Tennessean, Dr. Cheryl Grady says.
One clinic emboldened by an expert who came from the United States is the Louis and Leah Posluns Stroke and Cognition Clinic which specializes in stroke rehabilitation.
The clinic got rolling in 2004 under the leadership of Dr. Jon Erik Ween, a clinical researcher and neurologist who arrived at Baycrest’s Kunin- Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit (KLARU) from Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. As its name implies, the unit provides opportunities for researchers to apply their work by collaborating directly with Baycrest clinicians who treat patients. “It’s the top-notch brain research here at Baycrest and the potential to translate that research into better patient care, that drew me here,” Ween allows. “The way I see it, Baycrest is one of the world’s best places to make this kind of translation happen.”
Some of the brains Baycrest has gained are Canadians who ventured south of the border for several years before returning. Dr. Bruce Pollock, the Sandra A. Rotman chair in neuropsychiatry at Baycrest, is one such Can-Am case. A graduate of U of T’s medical school,Pollock started his psychiatric career in Toronto before spending more than 20 years in Pittsburgh, where he became an expert in how drugs affect the mood and functioning of geriatric patients. He returned to his roots in 2005. “What attracted me to come back to Toronto was the fact that…Rotman has a group of brain scientists who are second to none in the world,” says Pollock, who heads the division of geriatric psychiatry at U of T. “And my coming here has also allowed us to make a partnership with CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health), where they have a superb PETimaging centre.”
Pollock’s lead has been followed by others. For instance, Baycrest’s recent recruit, Dr. Linda Mah, studied at McGill University in Montreal, headed to the National Institute of Health in the United States and has now returned north of the border to work at KLARU.
Another example in this regard is Dr. Gwenn Smith, a professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Acclaimed for her work in translational research in late-life psychiatry, Smith was tapped as a joint appointment for the Rotman and CAMH. “She…was attracted to Toronto by the world-class imaging facilities, cognitive psychology and clinical neuroscience capabilities at the Rotman Research Institute/Baycrest, and CAMH,” Pollock says.
“What attracted me to come back to Toronto was the fact that…[The] Rotman [Research Institute] has a group of brain scientists who are second to none in the world,” says Dr. Bruce Pollock, who heads the division of geriatric psychiatry at U of T.
Pollock lauds Baycrest’s continuous investment in infrastructure and points out significant differences in his field between Canada and the United States. “I believe Canada really has a better system where psychiatry is concerned,” he says. “The other thing that characterizes Toronto and perhaps Canadian medical schools in general is that teaching is still a highly valued activity here.”
While the teaching component was an allure for many of Baycrest’s experts, the focus on research played a pivotal role in attracting Detroit native Dr. Brian Levine in 1993. A neuropsychologist who did post-doctoral training in Boston, Levine is passionate about research and found a perfect fit at Baycrest for someone with his interests. “To have all of my time dedicated to research is a dream job,” notes Levine, a Rotman scientist and associate professor of psychology and medicine at U of T.
Internationally acclaimed for his research into how the brain processes autobiographical memories and for using brain imaging in his research, Levine cites two major elements at Rotman which render it one of the world’s top institutes of its kind. “It’s the combination of technological and intellectual resources,” he reveals. “We have a lot of technology, like MRI and EEG and there are not many places that have all of that in one building. And we have this incredible group of intellectuals, with novel ideals, creativity and expertise, which is what makes Baycrest so unique.”
“The one thing academics want is to be around people that can stimulate them,” Detroit native Dr. Brian Levine says.
What Levine truly appreciates each day is gaining so much from working with some of the world’s greatest brains in neuropsychology. “The one thing academics want is to be around people who can stimulate them,” Levine offers. “And that’s why I’ve stayed here. To walk down the hall with international giants like Endel Tulving, Randy McIntosh, Fergus Craik, Donald Stuss and Cheryl Grady, is amazing.”