Department of Psychiatry

Faculty of Medicine

Rudolf Uher

Professor

rudolf-uher
Department of Psychiatry , Department of Community Health and Epidemiology , Department of Psychology and Neuroscience , Department of Medical Neuroscience , Department of Pathology

Mailing Address: 
Room, 4082, AJLB
5909 Veterans Memorial Lane
Halifax, NS B3H 2E2
 
Research Topics:
  • Early interventions
  • Early onset depression
  • Schizophrenia
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Family high-risk studies
  • Pharmacogenetics
  • Developmental psychopathology
  • Gene-environment interactions


Related information

Education

MD (Charles University)
PhD (Charles University)
CCT (King’s College London)

Research interests

Dr. Uher wants to reduce the burden of severe mental illness. His research interests are early interventions to prevent psychosis, depression and bipolar disorder, psychiatric genetics, pharmacogenetics, the interplay of genes and environment in the causation of mental illness, classification of psychopathology, treatment of depression, and use of clinical assessment and biomarkers to personalize treatment.

Selected publications  

  • MacKenzie LE, Abidi S, Fisher HL, Propper L, Bagnell A, Morash-Conway J,Glover JM, Cumby J, Hajek T, Schultze-Lutter F, Pajer K, Alda M, Uher R (2016) Stimulant Medication and Psychotic Symptoms in Offspring of Parents With Mental Illness. Pediatrics, 137: 1-10.
  • Rasic D, Hajek T, Alda M, Uher R (2014) Risk of mental illness in offspring of parents with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder: a meta-analysis of family high-risk studies. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 40(1): 28-38.
  • Uher R, Tansey EK, Dew T, Maier W, Mors O, Hauser J, Dernovsek MZ, Henigsberg N, Souery D, Farmer A, McGuffin P (2014) An inflammatory biomarker predicts differential outcome of depression treatment with escitalopram and nortriptyline. American Journal of Psychiatry, 171:1278-86.
  • Tansey KE, Guipponi M, Perroud N, Bondolfi G, Domenici E, Evans D, Hall SK, Hauser J, Henigsberg N, Hu X, Jerman B, Maier W, Mors O, O'Donovan M, Peters TJ, Placentino A, Rietschel M, Souery D, Aitchison KJ, Craig I, Farmer A, Wendland JR, Holmans P, Lewis G, Lewis CM, Stensbol TB, Kapur S, McGuffin P, Uher R (2012) Genetic Predictors of Response to Serotonergic and Noradrenergic Antidepressants in Major Depressive Disorder: a Genome-wide Analysis of Individual-level Data and a Meta-Analysis. PLoS Medicine, 9(10): e1001326. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001326.
  • Uher R, Perlis RH, Henigsberg N, Zobel A, Rietschel M, Mors O, Hauser J, Dernovsek MZ, Souery D, Bajs M, Maier W, Aitchison KJ, Farmer A, McGuffin P (2012) Depression symptom dimensions as predictors of antidepressant treatment outcome: replicable evidence for interest-activity symptoms, Psychological Medicine, 45: 967-980.

Selected awards and honours  

  • 2014 Max Hamilton Memorial Prize,The International College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP)
  • 2012 Canada Research Chair in Early Intervention in Psychiatry, Canada
  •  2011 Robert W. Kerwin Prize in Psychopharmacology, UK
  •  2009 Denis Hill Prize, Maudsley Hospital, King’s College London, UK

Memberships

  • The Society of Biological Psychiatry
  • Anxiety and Depression Association of America
  • College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia
  • Brain Repair Centre, Halifax, NS, Canada
  • Royal College of Psychiatrists

Teaching

  • Critical appraisal (how to find, evaluate and use information)
  • Rating scales in psychiatry
  • Personalized Psychiatry
  • Treatment of depression
  • Developmental psychopathology

Service & Activity

  • World Health Organization. Work group member, co-chair and consultant. Child and adolescent disorders, Eating disorders, International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision (ICD-11)
  • Depression and Anxiety, Associate Editor for Depression. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/%28ISSN%291520-6394/homepage/EditorialBoard.html
  • Maritime Hub of the Canadian Depression Research and Intervention Network (CDRIN-Maritime) This is an infrastructure hub enabling large-scale low-cost clinical research in major depressive disorder and related conditions. Dr Uher co-leads this initiative with Dr David Pilon. Ongoing activities include the implementation of person-centred measurement based care for depression. www.cdrin.org
  • Families Overcoming Risks and Improving Opportunities for Well-being (FORBOW). FORBOW is a cohort of youth including offspring of parents with severe mental illness and youth from the general population with embedded randomized controlled trials of pre-emptive early interventions. FORBOW is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation. www.forbow.org
  • Skills for Wellness (SWELL) This study is developing and testing a cognitive-behavioural intervention for youth with affective lability, anxiety, psychotic-like experiences and basic symptoms with the long-term aim to reduce the risk of developing severe mental illness. SWELL is funded by the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation.
  • Pharmacogenetics work package of the Novel Methods leading to New Medications in Depression and Schizophrenia (NEWMEDS) Dr Uher co-leads this work-package with Prof Peter McGuffin. Five original articles have already been published from the pharmacogenetic work and simulations to establish benchmarks for clinical significance of biomarkers. Current efforts include the use of machine learning to efficiently predict treatment response for an individual patient with depression, and the use of inflammatory biomarkers to personalize treatment of major depressive disorder. www.newmeds-europe.com