Dr. Lynn Raymond appointed Director, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health

The Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Lynn Raymond as Director of the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health (DMCBH), effective March 1, 2020. This appointment reflects the commitment of the Faculty of Medicine and its partners to upholding the vision of Dr. Djavad Mowafaghian and his foundation.

Dr. Raymond served on the DMCBH Executive Committee for the Centre’s first five years, and brings a wealth of leadership and administrative experience to the role. Dr. Raymond is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, the Louise A. Brown Chair in Neuroscience, Clinic Director of the Centre for Huntington Disease, and served as Director of the UBC MD/PhD Program for many years. She also served as President of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience from 2017 to 2018; in 2018, she co-authored an editorial in the Globe and Mail calling for a national brain-research strategy.

Dr. Raymond is an internationally renowned neuroscientist and neurologist, and her work bridges foundational science and clinical research. She has more than 170 publications, and her work has been cited more than 11,000 times. She has devoted her career to better understanding the specific roles of altered neuronal circuits and amino acid neurotransmitter receptors in Huntington disease, with the aim of developing disease-modifying therapy. Her work is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the John Evans Leadership Fund, and she has held funding from a variety of not-for-profit organizations including the Cure Huntington’s Disease Initiative and Huntington Society of Canada.

In her role as Director, Dr. Raymond will lead the Centre into its next phase of growth by supporting and amplifying the foundational, translational and clinical research that will enhance brain health and lead to better outcomes and improved quality of life for people with psychiatric and neurological disorders and their care partners and families.