Dr. Robyn McQuaid

Dr. Robyn McQuaid is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Carleton University and a Scientist at the University of Ottawa's Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR) in the Culture & Gender Research Unit.

Dr. McQuaid’s research examines the impacts of stressors and traumatic experiences on mental health disorders among various populations. She examines the neuroendocrine, inflammatory and genetic/epigenetic pathways through which early-life adversity and adult stressors promote depression and comorbid disorders. A focus of her work is using biomarkers to inform future precision medicine advances for mental illness. Much of Dr. McQuaid’s research program is conducted together with groups that have historically been mistreated or excluded from biological health research, and prioritizes the examination of how sociodemographic, psychosocial, and biological correlates of various stressors come together to explain mental illnesses.

Dr. McQuaid is the recipient of an Ontario Early Researcher Award (ERA), The Royal Ottawa Foundation’s Inspiration Award for Young Researchers, and the IMHR’s Emerging Research Innovators in Mental Health (eRIMh) award.