Department of community health sciences

The Department of Community Health Sciences and
the Institute for Public Health
Presenter:
Dr. Katherine Aitchison
Professor of Psychiatry, University of Alberta
Title: Clinical lessons from GENDEP for the treatment of depression.
This presentation will review conclusions drawn from the GENDEP study for the treatment of depression. For example, analysis using symptom dimensions revealed drug-specific advantages (Uher et al, 2009): observed mood and cognitive symptoms improved more with escitalopram than with nortriptyling; neurovegetative symptoms improved more with nortriptyline than escitalopram. CYP2C19 genotypic category significantly predicted steady-state (week 8) escitalopram concentration, and analysis of baseline weight as a predictor revealed that lower BMI predicted better response to nortriptyline (Uher et al, 2009b). Dr. Kathy Aitchison, the second Alberta Centennial Addiction and Mental Health Research Chair, is a Psychiatrist with a doctorate (PhD) who has been recruited to Alberta to provide research leadership in mental health and addictions research and to help improve the mental health of Albertans. Having developed and led an Early Intervention in Psychosis Clinical Team, co-led a large European research project in depression, and currently being involved in a European multicentre study in suicide (http://www.stop-study.com), Dr Aitchison has relevant expertise and experience. She has published extensively in the fields of psychopharmacology, pharmacogenetics, psychiatric genetics and health care outcomes. She relocated from King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, where she retains a visiting appointment as a Reader in Psychopharmacology and Pharmacogenetics. Objectives:

Objective 1: To list outcome measures used for the clinical rating of depression.
Objective 2: To describe a differential effect of antidepressants on different symptom dimensions.
Objective 3: To describe the timing of the period of greatest suicide risk in antidepressant
This event is a self approved group learning activity (Section 1) as defined by the
Maintenance of Certification Program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons
of Canada
Date: Friday, May 11th, 2012
Time: 12:00 to 12:50 P.M.
Place: G500 – Health Sciences Centre, 3330 Hospital Drive NW

After the seminar, you are invited for continued discussion over coffee and cookies.

This seminar is also available via an online Elluminate session:

To attend the seminar from another location via your computer, click on the Join Session link:

PLEASE NOTE: THIS SESSION WILL NOT BE RECORDED. At the login prompt, enter your
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require a password to join - please leave this field blank. You may join the session 60 minutes
prior to the start time. It is advisable to test your audio before the seminar starts.

Source: http://iph.ucalgary.ca/system/files/Poster-Aitchison_Seminar-2012-5-11.pdf