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 at the Institut National de Psychiatrie Légale Philippe-Pinel, a senior clinical researcher at the Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal and an associate professor at the University of Montreal. Notably, during his residency in psychiatry, he also completed a doctorate in biomedical sciences.
His primary research projects, which use neuroimaging and virtual reality technologies, focus on the neurobiology and treatment of patients with schizophrenia. Particularly with the use of virtual reality, Virtual Reality-assisted Therapy (VRT) aims to reduce auditory hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia, and cannabis use in patients with psychotic disorders. Markedly, Dr. Dumais has been nominated principal investigator of two important Canadian Institutes of Health Research fundings to lead randomized controlled trials aiming to demonstrate the efficacy of these innovative interventions.
Moreover, Dr. Dumais is the author of over 150 publications, with five scientific articles having been published in the prestigious American Journal of Psychiatry. Amongst these five articles, one has even received the distinction “Most Talked Articles in 2020”. 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 select and recommend articles they consider as being of high importance 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” had an altmetric score of 645. Furthermore, in October 2023, he was invited by Harvard Medical School, in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to present on the association of cannabis and violence. Finally, Dr. Dumais has had more than 135 media appearances on subjects related to psychiatry, virtual reality therapies and cannabis use (e.g., NBC News, CNN, Times Live, CTV News, UK Today).