Research
The McQuaid Lab studies stress processes. Our focus is on understanding the impacts of stressors and early-life trauma on mental health, specifically depression and other stress-related disorders. This includes a strong emphasis on considering the role of both peripheral biomarkers and psychosocial determinants in the stress - depression link.
Our research centered on stress includes a range of approaches, including:
1) lab-based experiments;
2) community-based research; and
3) population health.
UNDERSTANDING THE HETEROGENEITY OF DEPRESSION
Depression is a heterogeneous disorder and is highly comorbid with other stress-related disorders like anxiety and PTSD. This might be due to shared trauma and stressful experiences that are strong predictors of these disorders. We are taking a transdiagnostic approach to understanding depression, focusing on symptomatologies and stressor histories (rather than the confounds of psychiatric diagnoses) and linking these to peripheral inflammatory, genetic and epigenetic biomarkers in an effort to inform more personalized treatments in the future.
A FOCUS ON SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
Social determinants, such as adverse early-life experiences, social support and poverty are incredibly important predictors of depression and other stress-related disorders. We focus on this link, and examine the biological pathways in which social determinants impact mental health, with a focus on inflammatory factors.
INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA AND RESILIENCE
One component of our program of research examines how the trauma related to government policies, such as the Residential Schools, the Sixties Scoop and ongoing inequities in the Child Welfare System can be transmitted across generations to continue to impact current health and wellness among Indigenous peoples in Canada. We are also exploring resiliency, including the ways that culture can confer healing and buffer against historical traumas. This work is done together with Dr. Amy Bombay from Dalhousie University.