Jean Addington, Ph.D.

Dr Addington is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Calgary in Alberta Canada. She holds the Alberta Centennial Mental Health Research Chair and the Novartis Chair for Schizophrenia Research at the University of Calgary. She is also an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) Medical Scientist.

Dr Addington has worked as a researcher, clinician and educator focusing on psychosis and schizophrenia for 20 years. Dr Addington was instrumental in founding the Early Psychosis Program in Calgary, Alberta and directed that program until 2002. She helped establish the Prevention through Risk Identification, Management and Prevention (PRIME) clinics in Calgary and in Toronto, both community-based services dedicated to the early identification and treatment of individuals aged 12 to 30 who are at risk of developing psychosis.

Dr Addington's work focuses on finding predictors and mechanisms of conversion to psychosis. Working with young adults and adolescents as young as 13, she has sought to determine whether symptoms can be predicted and treated prior to a full blown psychotic episode.

There are several ongoing projects within Dr Addington's Psychosis Research Program. The NAPLS project is a longitudinal study of predictors and mechanisms of conversion to psychosis. This study investigates both potential clinical and biological markers of conversion to psychosis that includes clinical assessments, social functioning, cognitive functioning, social cognition, evoked potentials, genomics, cortisol and brain imaging. Several treatment options such as cognitive remediation, cognitive behavior therapy and family education are being tested for their effectiveness in this high risk group. More recent projects include the role of social risk factors in determining the risk of developing psychosis in those with a family history of schizophrenia. We also have ongoing treatment projects for those young adults experiencing a first episode of psychosis.