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Associate Professor  |  Clinician Investigator

Adriano Mollica

Neurosciences and Clinical Translation, Consultation/Liaison Psychiatry

MD

Adriano Mollica

adriano.mollica@sunnybrook.ca

416-480-4216

416-480-4613
Location
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Address
FG53 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto , Ontario Canada M4N 3M5
Research Interests
Brain–mind–body interface disorders, including functional neurological disorder, persisting symptoms after concussion, and chronic pain, Network-based mechanisms of neuropsychiatric illness, Neuromodulation, Treatment expectations, placebo and nocebo effects, and predictors of treatment response, Translational and rehabilitation-informed approaches to complex neuropsychiatric syndromes
Appointment Status
Primary

Qualification

  • Bachelor of Music, Music Therapy (Psychology minor), Berklee College of Music (2013)
  • MD, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto (2019)
  • Specialist Certification in Psychiatry, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (2024)
  • FRCPC, Psychiatry, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (2025)
  • Azrieli Brain Medicine Fellowship, University of Toronto (2025)

Professional Memberships

  • Canadian Psychiatric Association
  • Canadian Neuromodulation Society
  • American Neuropsychiatric Association
  • Functional Neurological Disorder Society

Dr. Adriano Mollica is a clinician–investigator and staff psychiatrist in the Neuropsychiatry Program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, with an academic appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He completed medical school at the University of Toronto (2019), residency training in psychiatry at the University of Toronto (2024), followed by the Azrieli Brain Medicine Fellowship (2025), where he received advanced subspecialty training in the assessment and management of complex brain disorders.

Dr. Mollica’s academic trajectory began with undergraduate training in music therapy at Berklee College of Music, where he worked clinically with individuals affected by neuropsychiatric conditions across the lifespan. These early experiences shaped a lasting interest in the brain–mind–body interface and in how emotional, cognitive, and physiological processes interact in illness and recovery.

Clinically, Dr. Mollica provides comprehensive care for disorders of the brain–mind–body interface, including functional neurological disorder, persisting symptoms after concussion, somatic symptom disorder, and chronic pain. His research program examines network-based mechanisms and therapeutics for these conditions, with a particular focus on neuromodulation, treatment expectations and placebo effects, and predictors of treatment response.

Dr. Mollica has authored multiple first-author publications in high-impact journals, including Brain Stimulation, Nature Mental Health, and the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, and has received several awards recognizing his contributions to the field, including the Fred Lowy Award in Psychosomatic Medicine (2022), the Ennis Scholarship in Chronic Non-Cancer Pain (2024), and the Young Investigator Award from the American Neuropsychiatric Association (2025).

His work bridges psychiatry, neurology, and rehabilitation medicine, with the goal of advancing integrated, neuroscience-informed models of care for disorders at the brain–mind–body interface

 

Grants

Co-Principal Investigator, Impact of patient expectations on clinical outcomes and neurocircuitry activation with TMS for treatment-resistant depression, Labatt Family Discovery Program ($40,000 CAD)

Co-Investigator, Neuroimaging-guided accelerated theta-burst TMS for persisting symptoms after concussion, Kimel-Schatsky Traumatic Brain Injury Competition, Tory Trauma Program ($90,000 CAD)

Recent Publications

Mollica A, Cash R, Leochico CFD, Giacobbe P, Sewell IJ, Zalesky A, Rabin JS, Goubran M, Graham S, Davidson B, Lin FH, Lipsman N, Hamani C, Burke MJ, Nestor SM. The network-based underpinnings of persisting symptoms after concussion: A multimodal neuroimaging meta-analysis. Nature Mental Health. 2025. 3:1276–1290. Impact Factor: 8.7.

Mollica A, Dedominicis M, Silverberg ND, Burke MJ. Persisting Symptoms After Concussion and Functional Neurological Disorder: Points of Intersection. Seminars in Neurology. 2025. Impact Factor: 2.0.

Mollica A, Ng E, Nestor SM, Burke MJ, Lee H, Rabin JS, Hamani C, Lipsman N, Giacobbe P. Treatment expectations and clinical outcomes following repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for treatment-resistant depression. Brain Stimulation. 2024. 17(4):752–9. Impact Factor: 8.4.

Oriuwa C, Mollica A, Feinstein A, Giacobbe, P, Lipsman, N, Perez, D, Burke, MJ. Neuromodulation for the treatment of functional neurological disorder and somatic symptom disorder: a systematic review. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. 2022. 93(3):280-90. Impact Factor: 11.1.

Honours and Awards

Young Investigator Award, American Neuropsychiatric Association (2025)

Ennis Scholarship in Chronic Non-Cancer Pain, University of Toronto (2024)
 

Fred Lowy Award in Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Toronto (2022)

MD Program Teaching Award of Excellence, University of Toronto (2024)
 

Resident Grand Rounds Awards, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Department of Psychiatry (2021, 2022, 2023)

Dr. Robert Jaunkalns Resident Teaching Award, Department of Psychiatry, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (2020)