The CAMH-wide BrainHealth Databank (BHDB) accelerates research and improves care by collecting and studying data that individuals choose to share. This transformative initiative is the first of its kind in mental health care in Canada.
The BHDB is a repository of many types and sources of data—such as sleep and physical activity records from smartwatches, blood samples and brain images from labs, and assessments from health care visits—to help us better understand and diagnose mental illness, and find new treatments and prevention strategies. The BHDB is the repository of data from research projects conducted at, or under the auspices of, CAMH. The BHDB contains a wealth of secure data collected from consenting participants who have generously volunteered to contribute to scientific research.
Across CAMH, research is revolutionizing our understanding of the brain as we uncover the underlying causes and biological markers for mental illness. Convergence—bringing together all the available information about individuals and their mental health journeys—is the key to igniting discovery and answering our most difficult questions about mental illness. For example, an estimated one in three people have hard-to-treat depression, and the BHDB improves our understanding of both individuals and broader populations so that we can accelerate personalized care.
One of the core principles of the BHDB is our commitment to supporting Open Science and discoverability through safe and secure data management. This is exemplified by the BHDB’s robust governance framework, including an expert panel of researchers, ethicists, and community representatives. This panel ensures that all data management practices align with the highest ethical standards and respect participant privacy. The BHDB applies rigorous access controls ensuring that only approved researchers with legitimate research objectives can access the data.
In the long term, this rich resource will advance the work of scientists at CAMH and around the world to accelerate mental health research and care. The BHDB fosters an Open Science approach to research by enabling the secondary re-use of CAMH research data by all scientists in their pursuit of advancements in understanding brain health, mental health, and related conditions.
This transformative BHDB initiative is a priority of CAMH’s overarching strategic plan, Connected CAMH, and supports the work of the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics at CAMH. The BrainHealth Databank is funded by the CAMH Discovery Fund.
