Melissa L. PerreaultDr. Perreault is an award-winning Research Leadership Chair at the University of Guelph and is a proud Métis citizen. Her research is on the leading edge of therapeutic target and biomarker discovery in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disordes. Dr. Perreault also spends much of her time on Indigenous initiatives and educating on the decolonization of neuroscience, and she is involved in the development of guidelines on clinical research methodologies with Indigenous communities. Dr. Perreault received her PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience from McMaster University in 2007 and spent several years training in Neuropharmacology at the University of Toronto. During this time, she focused on the dopamine and opioid signalling and their relevance in neuropsychiatric disorders. She joined the University of Guelph in 2017 where she built a multidisciplinary research program in cellular, systems, and behavioural neurobiology with a focus on depression, schizophrenia, and autism spectrum disorders. Her goal is to improve personalized approaches to medicine by furthering the understanding of sex differences in brain health and disease. Dr. Perreault also takes a Two-Eyed Seeing approach to her research, emphasizing holistic approaches to medicine. She works closely with plant biologists and chemists to determine the neurobiological impacts of whole plants or mushrooms, such as psilocybin or cannabis, and their relevance to mental health. Dr. Perreault is a member of The College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada and a full member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. She is Lead of the Cross-Cultural Working Group of the International Brain Initiative and is part of the Indigenous Knowledge Holder’s Group of the Canadian Brain Research Strategy. Her efforts towards building inclusivity in the sciences were acknowledged with an Award of Excellence by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities of Ontario and in 2024 she was honoured as a Woman of Distinction by the YMCA. Read More Read Less