News

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10/02/2021 - Professor Ruocco will present his talk titled What We Are Learning About Brain Biology and Borderline Personality Disorder in a "Meet The Scientist Webinar" for the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation in the United States. In this presentation, Dr. Ruocco discusses his new research on the neurobiology of borderline personality disorder, including the familial risk for the disorder and the impacts of stress on brain structure and functioning. He also presents the results of his research funded by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation examining the treatment of suicidal ideation and depression using magnetic seizure therapy in individuals with borderline personality disorder.

The presentation will take place on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, 2:00 pm EDT.

02/10/2020 - Professor Ruocco is the recipient of a 2020 Standard Research Grant ($100,000 US) from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The grant, titled A Neurocomputational Approach to Discriminate Between Suicide Ideators and Attempters, aims to develop a risk algorithm for suicide attempt that combines information across clinical, behavioural, and brain-based risk factors. The research has promise to develop a “risk calculator” that could be used in the future to inform intervention plans for at-risk patients.

27/05/2020 - Professor Ruocco was invited to present a webinar for the Sashbear Foundation, an organization focussed on mental health and suicide prevention. Attended by more than 600 people, Professor Ruocco’s webinar presented the latest research findings from his laboratory on the neurobiology of borderline personality disorder in families.

10/02/2020 - Professor Ruocco was invited to present his talk titled "Neurobiology of Borderline Personality Disorder: Implications for Biomarkers of the ICD-11 Pathological Personality Dimensions" at University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) Basel. His visit to the clinic in Switzerland marks a new research collaboration focused on neuroimaging and the new ICD-11 personality disorder diagnosis.

29/10/2019 - Professor Ruocco was an invited speaker at the IASR/AFSP International Summit on Suicide Research in Miami, Florida. He presented his research on dialectical behaviour therapy and changes in brain functioning in individuals with borderline personality disorder who self-harm. The presentation was part of a symposium titled "Brain Function and Decision-Making/Imaging".

02/10/2019 - Professor Ruocco presented a lecture titled The Neurobiology of Borderline Personality Disorder at the Third Annual Kenneth R. Silk, MD Lectureship in Psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School.

22/06/2019 - The purpose of the Graduate Student Research Award is to recognize the research activities of graduate students as well as their overall contribution to the University of Toronto Scarborough.

10/06/2019 - Jacob Koudys, PhD student in Clinical Psychology, has received a prestigious CIHR Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded by the Government of Canada to invest in the country's most promising researchers. The award will support Jacob's doctoral research proposal titled Differentiating Suicide Attempters From Suicidal Ideators: A Multimodal Investigation of Impulsivity.

01/06/2019 - Dr. Jenna Traynor has received a two-year CIHR Fellowship to complete her post-doctoral research under the joint supervision of Dr. Anthony C. Ruocco (University of Toronto) and Dr. Z. Jeff Daskalakis (Centre for Addiction & Mental Health). Dr. Traynor's funded research project is titled "Magnetic Seizure Therapy for the Treatment of Treatment-Resistant Depression and Suicidality in Borderline Personality Disorder".

25/06/2018 - The award advances and recognizes individuals with highly distinguished research accomplishments and who display exceptional research promise at the University of Toronto Scarborough. A stipend of $10,000 each year for three years is provided in support of research activities.

13/04/2019 - Professor Ruocco received the award at the 2019 Annual Conference of the North American Society for the Study of Personality Disorders in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The award recognizes the achievements of mid-level investigators in the field of personality and personality disorders.

25/06/2018 - The purpose of the Graduate Student Research Award is to recognize the research activities of graduate students as well as their overall contribution to the University of Toronto Scarborough.

15/04/2017 - The Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Awards (CGS-D) program provides special recognition and support to students who are pursuing a doctoral degree in a health-related field in Canada. The award provides a stipend of $30,000 per annum and a research allowance of $5,000 per annum.

28/12/2016 - The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) has selected Dr. Ruocco to receive the 2017 Young Investigator Research Award. The award is in recognition of research based on Professor Ruocco's AFSP-funded study examining neuroimaging predictors of treatment outcomes for self-harming patients with borderline personality disorder. The award provides an honorarium of $1,000 and travel expenses to attend the American Association of Suicidology Annual Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on April 26- 29, 2017, where the study results and related research will be presented.

03/10/2016 - Achala Rodrigo, PhD student in Clinical Psychology, has received a prestigious SSHRC Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded by the Government of Canada to invest in the country's most promising researchers. The award will support Achala's doctoral research proposal titled Understanding Extraversion from a Control Perspective: Integrating Neural Evidence Across Trait Measures and In Vivo Social Functioning.

17/05/2016 - The purpose of the Graduate Student Research Award is to recognize the research activities of graduate students as well as their overall contribution to the University of Toronto Scarborough.

17/05/2016 – The purpose of the award is to recognize and encourage the research activities and achievements of faculty and carries a value of $5,000 to be used toward the costs of Professor Ruocco's research activities.

15/04/2016 - The Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Awards (CGS-D) program provides special recognition and support to students who are pursuing a doctoral degree in a health-related field in Canada. The award provides a stipend of $30,000 per annum and a research allowance of $5,000 per annum.

11/06/2015 - Dr. Ruocco has been awarded a 2015 Early Researcher Award to support his research on neural systems dysfunctions underlying impulse control in borderline personality disorder. Funded by the Province of Ontario's Ministry of Research and Innovation, the purpose of the Early Researcher Award program is to help promising, recently-appointed Ontario researchers build their research teams of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and research associates.

02/06/2015 - The purpose of the Graduate Student Research Award is to recognize the research activities of graduate students as well as their overall contribution to the University of Toronto Scarborough.

09/08/2014 – Each year, one graduate of a Canadian university is awarded the Mackenzie King Open Scholarship to pursue graduate studies at any school in the country. Institutions nominate a small number of applicants to be considered nationally, based on their academic achievements, personal qualities, and demonstrated aptitudes. This year, Dean Carcone was selected to receive this prestigious scholarship as he begins his graduate studies in Clinical Psychology at the University of Toronto, under the joint supervision of Professor Anthony C. Ruocco and Professor Andy Lee. Dean was also awarded a Canada Graduate Scholarship-Master's award from the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada.

07/11/2014 - Dr. Ruocco's research supported by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation in the United States has been selected for the unique Research Partners Program, which affords the most generous supporters of the foundation the opportunity to designate their gift to a specific scientist based on interest in a particular research topic. Professor Ruocco has been named the Families for Borderline Personality Disorder Investigator for his research on magnetic seizure therapy to treat suicidality in individuals with borderline personality disorder.