Brought to you by the Depression Is Real Coalition, The Down & Up Show is dedicated to the reality of depression. Each week our hosts will talk with some of the world's top experts on depression, as well as people who have been impacted by this illness. The reality of depression is that it is a debilitating and potentially deadly medical condition that affects more than 15 million Americans every year. The other reality of depression is that there is hope.

Alain Ptito, PhD

Dr. Alain Ptito an Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University. Dr. Ptito has worked as a Neuropsychologist at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital since 1983. Dr A. Ptito's research program involves the investigation of the mechanisms involved in cerebral reorganization and plasticity in patient populations (hemispherectomy, callosotomy, Parkinson's Disease, stroke and head injury) and his clinical work includes the neuropsychological assessment of these patients. One of his principal research focus has been the effects on a patient's vision following a rare procedure called hemispherectomy, the surgical removal or disconnection of a cerebral hemisphere.

Dr. Ptito studied Clinical Psychology at McGill University (1975), and obtained post-graduate degrees in Experimental Psychology (1979) and Neuropsychology (1986) from the UniversitŽ de MontrŽal. His doctoral thesis examined residual vision in the blind field of patients who underwent a hemispherectomy. Dr. Ptito now delivers lectures throughout the world on residual vision. He is a member of the Order of Psychologists of the Province of Quebec, the Ontario Psychological Association and the SociŽtŽ Des MŽdecins Experts Du QuŽbec. Dr. Ptito has recently served as Vice-PrŽsident of the Chercheur-Boursier Committee of the Fonds de la Recherche en SantŽ du QuŽbec.

In recent years, Dr. Ptito has explored new methods of using fMRI for examining brain trauma, particularly in athletes. He has been using fMRI to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying working memory in concussed athletes. Thanks to renewed support from CIHR, he has been able to carry out baseline fMRI and neuropsychological testing with hockey and football varsity athletes and to repeat the tests immediately after concussion and subsequently until symptom resolution. His results show that fMRI is sensitive enough to detect abnormal activation patterns in symptomatic concussed individuals and that it could provide an objective way to measure the severity of or recovery from a concussion. In addition, with NSERC support, Dr. Ptito continues to investigate hemispherectomy and its effects on vision.