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Inspiration Awards 2016: Abigail Ortiz | Young Researcher
After completing her residency in psychiatry in Mexico in 2005, Dr. Abigail Ortiz won an award naming her the best resident of her generation for her research on mood disorders. The award allowed her to travel to Canada and complete her postgraduate studies at McGill, and- postdoctoral work in mood disorders at Dalhousie University. Since then, Dr. Ortiz has won numerous national and international awards for her study of mood fluctuations in patients suffering from depression and bipolar disorder. Her expertise is recognized globally, she is well respected by her international peers, and her work has the potential to address major gaps in our current understanding of mood disorders.
Carleton student tells the story of his road to mental wellness after accident
Treatment of bipolar disorder with comorbid migraine
Published by Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
2010 A 43-year-old woman with bipolar type II disorder and comorbid migraine without aura had experienced recurrent depressive episodes since age 30 (some with complete, spontaneous recovery) and had taken various classes of antidepressants...
Nonlinear dynamics of mood regulation in bipolar disorder
Published by Bipolar Disorders
December 14, 2016
Mood can be considered a memory stochastic process; it is a flexible, dynamic process that has a ‘short memory’ both in healthy controls and euthymic patients with bipolar disorder. This process may be quite different in untreated patients or in those acutely ill. Our results suggest that nonlinear measures can be applied to the study of mood disorders.
Immune variations in bipolar disorder: phasic differences
Published by Bipolar Disorders
2007 Objectives: To characterize the immunological variations of patients with a bipolar disorder (BD) diagnosis in manic (BDm) and depressive (BDd) phases, by the quantification of the serum levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, -2, -4, -6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α).
URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1399-5618.2007.00493.x/full
Cross‐prevalence of migraine and bipolar disorder
Published by Bipolar Disorders
2010 Objective: In two related studies, we explored the prevalence of migraine and its associated clinical characteristics in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) as well as psychiatric morbidity in patients treated for migraine.
URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1399-5618.2010.00832.x/full
An admixture analysis of the age at index episodes in bipolar disorder
Published by Psychiatry Research
2011 The interaction between polarity at onset (PAO) and age at onset (AAO) appears to be important for interpreting results of previous analyses of AAO in bipolar disorder (BD). Using an admixture analysis, we examined independently the distributions of age at first depressive and hypomanic/manic episodes in 379 BD I and II patients...
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178110006888
A case of clarithromycin-induced manic episode (antibiomania)
Published by The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
2004 Antimicrobial-induced mania, a rare but important side-effect of erythromycin and other drugs, is frequently under-recognized. Although its incidence – considering the wide use of antimicrobials – is statistically low, it should be regarded as a potential risk for patients both with and without a history of a mood disorder...
URL: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1461145703003882
Biography
Dr. Abigail Ortiz’s research focuses on the subtle mood fluctuations in patients suffering from depression and bipolar disorder, which cannot be well documented using standard rating scales. Applying techniques related to chaos theory, she is using mathematical tools that have benefited neurology and cardiology patients to refine our understanding of mood regulation.
Recognition/Reconnaissance
Young Researcher Inspiration Award
2016
Travel Award
2015 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Travel Fellowship Award
2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry
Samuel Gershon Award
2015 International Society for Bipolar Disorders
Additional Titles and Affiliations
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada : Member
International Mood Network : Member
International Society for Affective Disorders London UK. : Member
International Society of Bipolar Disorders : Member
Canadian College of Psychopharmacology : Member
Canadian Medical Association : Member
ACNP Underrepresented Minority Task Force : Member
Past Talks
Time-series analysis: an approach for understanding mood regulation in bipolar disorder
ACNP
Miami, FL., USA., December 1, 2012
Time-series analysis: an approach for understanding mood regulation in healthy controls
CINP
Stockholm, Sweden, June 1, 2012
New methods for analyzing mood data in bipolar disorder
University of Ottawa, Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds
Ottawa, ON., Canada, October 26, 2016
New methods for analyzing mood data in bipolar disorder
17th Annual Conference of the International Society of Bipolar Disorders (ISBD)
Toronto, ON., Canada, June 3, 2016
Exponential state transition dynamics in the rest-activity architecture of patients with bipolar disorder
18th annual conference of the International Society for Bipolar Disorder and the 8th biennal conference of the International Society for Affective Disorders
Amsterdam, Netherlands, July 1, 2016
Research Grants
Time-series analysis: an approach for understanding mood regulation
Organization: Department of Psychiatry Research Fund, Dalhousie University, Canada, 2009Details:
Principal Investigator : Dr. Abigail Ortiz
Time-series analysis: understanding mood regulation in bipolar disorder
Organization: Capital Health Research Fund, 2011Details:
Principal Investigator : Dr. Abigail Ortiz
Jr. Clinical Research Chair in Mood Disorders
Organization: University of OttawaDate: May 30, 2016
Details:
Awarded to Dr. Abigail Ortiz for her work on nonlinear analyses of mood regulation
Heart rate variability in bipolar disorder
Organization: University Medical Research Fund, University of Ottawa, 2015Details:
Principal Investigator : Dr. Abigail Ortiz Co-investigators : Dr. Kamil Brader
Borderline or bipolar? Using nonlinear analyses in clinical practice
Organization: University Medical Research Fund, University of OttawaDate: January 1, 2017
Details:
Principal Investigator: Dr. Abigail Ortiz We will be using time-series analyses to analyze mood variability in both borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder. We hypothesize these will be rather different and will serve as an extra clinical tool to aid in diagnostic clarification of these clinical entities.