ZACHARIE SAINT-GEORGES, BA, BSC

Zacharie is an MD/PhD student at the University of Ottawa. He holds a Bachelor of Social Science and an Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Ottawa. His most reputable awards include Best Honours Thesis in Psychology, two Governor General's Academic Medals, and two Gold University Medals for best GPA at graduation. His Honours Thesis explored the temporal sequencing of depressive symptoms, peer victimization and self-esteem across adolescence using structural equation modelling, and found evidence for a Self-Perception Driven Model, whereby low self-esteem would lead to increased depressive symptoms, which, in turn, would predict victimization by adolescent peers. These results highlighted the importance of helping youth form a healthy identity that promotes positive mental health and peer relations, and the need to intervene with depressed, victimized, and at-risk adolescents to instill positive self-regard. More recently, he has been interested in the neurobiological causes of psychiatric illnesses as assessed by neuroimaging modalities. For his PhD thesis, he will investigate the role of the cholinergic system in the cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia using [18F]FEOBV PET and working memory related fMRI. He aspires to become a clinician-researcher and mental health advocate to make a difference in our health care system and society at large. Finally, outside of the lab, he is a fulfilled husband and father who enjoys spending time with his family.