Venkat Bhat

MD MSc FRCPC DABPN

Investigator

Research Programs

Biography

Dr. Bhat is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He is currently a staff psychiatrist based at two Depression Centres: The Centre for Depression and Suicide Studies at St. Michael’s Hospital and the Poul Hansen Depression Centre at Toronto Western Hospital. At St. Michael’s Hospital, he is the Director of the Interventional Psychiatry Program which offers novel psychopharmacological (e.g. IV ketamine/other anesthetic agents), neurostimulation (e.g. rTMS, ECT, emerging neurostimulation modalities) and digital therapeutic (mobile-based monitoring and interventions) interventions for Mood and other Disorders. At Toronto Western Hospital, he has a focus on invasive neurostimulation (Deep Brain Stimulation and Invasive Brain Mapping) and is currently leading a study comparing ECT to IV Ketamine for Treatment-resistant Depression. Dr. Bhat collaborates closely with anesthesia, imaging, informatics, neurology and neurosurgery to offer emerging and procedural interventions for psychiatric disorders, his research program aims to understand treatment-response with these emerging interventions.

Recent Publications

  1. Meshkat, S, Tassone, VK, Wu, M, Duffy, SF, Boparai, JK, Jung, H et al.. Does self-reported BMI modify the association between stroke and depressive symptoms?. Can J Neurol Sci. 2024; :1-21. doi: 10.1017/cjn.2024.41. PubMed PMID:38523509 .
  2. Torres, A, Nguyen, B, Kapralos, B, Krishnan, S, Campbell, DM, Beavers, L et al.. Development and Implementation of a Stress Monitoring Paradigm Using Virtual Reality Simulation During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Cureus. 2024;16 (2):e53450. doi: 10.7759/cureus.53450. PubMed PMID:38435150 PubMed Central PMC10909386.
  3. Ladha, KS, Lee, J, Mattina, GF, Pazmino-Canizares, J, Wijeysundera, DN, Gholamali Nezhad, F et al.. Sustained Mood Improvement with Laughing Gas Exposure (SMILE): Study protocol for a randomized placebo-controlled pilot trial of nitrous oxide for treatment-resistant depression. PLoS One. 2024;19 (1):e0297330. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297330. PubMed PMID:38241247 PubMed Central PMC10798444.
  4. Meshkat, S, Liu, Y, Jung, H, Tassone, VK, Pang, H, Janssen-Aguilar, R et al.. Temporal associations of BMI and glucose parameters with depressive symptoms among US adults. Psychiatry Res. 2024;332 :115709. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115709. PubMed PMID:38211470 .
  5. Espinola, CW, Nguyen, B, Torres, A, Sim, W, Rueda, A, Beavers, L et al.. Digital Interventions for Stress Among Frontline Health Care Workers: Results From a Pilot Feasibility Cohort Trial. JMIR Serious Games. 2024;12 :e42813. doi: 10.2196/42813. PubMed PMID:38194247 PubMed Central PMC10783335.
  6. Tassone, VK, Gholamali Nezhad, F, Demchenko, I, Rueda, A, Bhat, V. Amygdala biomarkers of treatment response in major depressive disorder: An fMRI systematic review of SSRI antidepressants. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2024;338 :111777. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2023.111777. PubMed PMID:38183847 .
  7. Tassone, VK, Meshkat, S, Pang, H, Wu, M, Duffy, SF, Jung, H et al.. Increased odds of high body mass index in depression with self-reported antidepressant use. Gen Psychiatr. 2023;36 (6):e101204. doi: 10.1136/gpsych-2023-101204. PubMed PMID:38116458 PubMed Central PMC10728957.
  8. Nguyen, B, Torres, A, Rueda, A, Sim, W, Campbell, DM, Lou, W et al.. Digital Interventions to Reduce Distress Among Frontline Health Care Providers: Analysis of Self-Perceived Stress. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2023;2023 :1-4. doi: 10.1109/EMBC40787.2023.10340958. PubMed PMID:38083372 .
  9. Islam, F, Magarbeh, L, Elsheikh, SSM, Kloiber, S, Espinola, CW, Bhat, V et al.. Influence of CYP2C19, CYP2D6, and ABCB1 Gene Variants and Serum Levels of Escitalopram and Aripiprazole on Treatment-Emergent Sexual Dysfunction: A Canadian Biomarker Integration Network in Depression 1 (CAN-BIND 1) Study. Can J Psychiatry. 2024;69 (3):183-195. doi: 10.1177/07067437231203433. PubMed PMID:37796764 PubMed Central PMC10874600.
  10. Rezaei, MR, Jeoung, H, Gharamani, A, Saha, U, Bhat, V, Popovic, MR et al.. Inferring cognitive state underlying conflict choices in verbal Stroop task using heterogeneous input discriminative-generative decoder model. J Neural Eng. 2023;20 (5):. doi: 10.1088/1741-2552/ace932. PubMed PMID:37473753 .
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Affiliations & Other Activities

  • Associate Scientist, LKSKI & KRCBS (core affiliation)
  • Director, Interventional Psychiatry Program, St. Michael’s Hospital (other affiliation)
  • Clinician Investigator, Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network (other affiliation)
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto (other affiliation)