Advancing Digital Innovation

Project Title: Nature-based Virtual Reality Intervention for Depression in Dementia

Project Description: Dementia affects over 55 million people worldwide. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and carries significant burden to patients and families, including high rates of depression – up to 50% of people with Alzheimer’s also have depression. For these people, pharmaceutical options have limited efficacy or evidence, and behavioural interventions often require intensive time, travel and additional burden on caregivers. We are piloting the feasibility and effectiveness of a nature-based VR intervention delivered entirely remotely, for patients with Alzheimer’s disease. We are testing whether experiencing immersive nature scenes in virtual reality is feasible and may reduce depressive symptoms.  If it does, this would be a scalable intervention that can be delivered in the home of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease using commercially available devices.

Dr. Eric Brown is the Associate Chief and an inpatient psychiatrist in the Geriatric Psychiatry Division at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He is an associate scientist in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. Dr. Brown’s clinical and research focus is on the mental health of older adults, including to understand the broad range of factors that contribute to cognitive impairment and dementia.

Dr. Harmehr Sekhon is an Assistant Professor at McGill University and an Associate Scientist at St. Mary’s Research Centre. She is also a collaborator scientist at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH). She holds a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in geriatrics from McGill and has completed postdoctoral training in Geriatric Psychiatry at McLean Hospital (Harvard affiliated), McGill University and CAMH. She has an H-index of 20 and 49 publications. Dr. Sekhon is the director of the GeriTech Innovations Research Laboratory, which creates, assesses and implements novel technology-based interventions, such as virtual reality, wearables and robots for older adults across the healthcare continuum, to improve health and well-being. 

Project Title: A Multi-Session Chatbot Intervention (MIBot2) to Enhance Motivation for Smoking Cessation: Development, Evaluation, and Provider Perspectives

Project Description: MIBot2 is an innovative, two-session AI-powered conversational agent grounded in evidence-based Motivational Interviewing (MI) principles, designed to expand access to behavioural counselling for smoking cessation. This digital intervention delivers tailored, MI-consistent support across two linked sessions, building on users’ responses from the first to strengthen confidence and facilitate quit planning. Its effectiveness in increasing motivation to quit will be rigorously evaluated in a two-arm randomized controlled trial, with the potential to increase quit success and reduce tobacco-related health disparities

Dr. Osnat Melamed is a Scientist in the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research and a staff Addiction Physician at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Melamed is an early-career investigator with research interests in tobacco addiction and the intersections between substance use, mental health and gender. Dr. Melamed is interested in the use of technology for the delivery of treatment for substance addiction. She develops innovative digital health tools such as smartphone apps and AI-based chatbots to support individuals in quitting smoking.