Gwyneth Zai
BSc, MSc, PhD, MD, FRCPC
Gwyneth Zai is a staff psychiatrist in the Mood and Anxiety Division and a clinician-scientist in the Molecular Brain Science Department, Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. She is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Brain and Therapeutics, Department of Psychiatry, at the University of Toronto. She completed her undergraduate (Hon.B.Sc in immunology and human biology), medical (M.D.), psychiatry (F.R.C.P.C.), postgraduate (M.Sc. and Ph.D. in psychiatric genetics and pharmacogenetics), and postdoctoral (clinical fellowship in cultural psychiatry and obsessive-compulsive and related disorders; research fellowship in psychiatric genetics and pharmacogenetics) training at the University of Toronto. She also completed her research fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge.
Research Synopsis
Dr. Gwyneth Zai's research focuses on the genetics and pharmacogenetics of psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, mood disorders, and schizophrenia. As almost all psychiatric disorders are complex and heterogeneous in nature, her research aims to identify homogeneous phenotypes, specifically cognitive profiles, in psychiatric disorders, and to examine the genetics of these specific phenotypes. Her goals are to link genetic variations to variations in phenotypes in order to determine mechanisms responsible for these links, and to translate identified links into enhanced understanding, treatment and prevention of psychiatric disorders.