Alexandre Dumais, MD, PhD, FRCPC
University of Montreal, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal, Institut National de Psychiatrie Légale Philippe-Pinel
Dr. Alexandre Dumais is a psychiatrist and
a researcher at the Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal and clinical
associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine at
the Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal. During his
psychiatry residency, he completed a doctorate in biomedical sciences. His main
research projects focus on the neurobiology and treatment of patients with
schizophrenia. For this, he uses neuroimaging and virtual reality technologies.
With the use of virtual reality, Virtual
Reality-assisted Therapy (VRT) aims to reduce auditory hallucinations in
patients with schizophrenia, and cannabis use for patients with psychosis disorders.
Hence, he is the nominated principal investigator of important Canadian
Institutes of Health Research fundings to lead two randomized controlled trials
aiming to demonstrate the efficacity of the VRT.
Dr. Dumais is the author of 134 articles, some
of which are published in the prestigious American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP).
Indeed, his article entitled: Association Between the Use of Cannabis and
Physical Violence in Youths: A Meta-Analytical Investigation, has received
the distinction Most Talked Articles in 2020 in the prestigious AJP. In 2021,
his article, entitled One-year randomized trial comparing virtual
reality-assisted therapy to cognitive-behavioral therapy for patients with
treatment-resistant schizophrenia, has been recommended in Faculty Opinions
as being significant in its field. The latter comprises peer-nominated,
internationally renowned researchers who pick and recommend articles they
consider to be highly important to others working in their field and beyond. In
2022, his article entitled Evidence on the acute and residual neurocognitive
effects of cannabis use in adolescents and adults: A systematic meta-review of
meta-analyses has an altimetric score of 645. Finally, Dr. Dumais had 135
media appearances on subjects related to psychiatry, VRT and cannabis use (ex,
NBC News, CNN, Times Live, CTV News, UK Today).