Massimiliano Orri, PhD
Dr. Massimiliano Orri is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, a Principal Investigator at the Douglas Hospital Research Centre, and an associate member in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health at McGill University. He holds the Canada Research Chair tier 2 in Suicide Prevention.
Additionally, Dr. Orri is affiliated as an Adjunct Senior Researcher to the Danish Research Institute for Suicide Prevention (DRISP) and as a Regular Researcher to the Research Unit on Children Psychosocial Maladjustment (GRIP). Dr. Orri is a Theme Lead in the Montreal WHO/PAHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health.
He received training in both Clinical Psychology (BS and MSc, University of Padova, Italy, and PhD, University of Paris, France) and Public Health Methodology and Biostatistics (MSc, University Paris Sud, France). Following the completion of his PhD, he pursued his research with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship (Horizon 2020, European Research Council) in suicide research at the McGill Group for Suicide Studies (McGill University) and University of Bordeaux School of Public Health.
Dr. Orri’s research program in psychiatric epidemiology aims to better understand the risk factors of suicide across the lifespan using data from large population-based longitudinal studies and genetically informed methods.
Besides research, Dr. Orri practices as a clinical psychologist at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in the Depressive and Suicide Disorders Program.
Principal investigator
Research assistant
Ayla Inja, BA
Ayla is currently a full-time research assistant under the supervision of Dr. Massimillano Orri, assisting on several projects. Prior to this, Ayla received her B.A. in Psychology with distinction at McGill University in 2021 and completed two bachelors theses. Having worked as an RA in several different research labs and research areas, ranging from trauma and stress, personality disorders, eating disorders and neuropsychiatric disorders, she plans on pursuing her MSc degree under Dr. Massimillano Orri’s supervision in 2023. Her research interests focus on the developmental trajectory of childhood maltreatment and several outcomes, including depression and suicide.
Postdoctoral fellows
Michel Spodenkiewicz, MD PhD
Dr. Michel Spodenkiewicz is an Associate Professor in child and adolescent psychiatry at the Faculty of Health Sciences (University of Reunion Island). He completed his medical training at the University of Paris with a fellowship in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department at La Pitié-Salpêtrière, an MSc in Psychology at the University of Paris Descartes, and a PhD in Biological Sciences, Technologies and Health at the University of La Reunion. He is the head of the Adolescent Psychiatry Department and works as an epidemiology researcher specialized in qualitative and mixed methods within the Clinical Investigation Center 1410 of the University Hospital of La Réunion and at the Centre de Recherches en Épidémiologie et Santé des Populations (Inserm U1178 - MOODS team). He recently joined the McGill Group for Suicide Studies as a fellow. Dr. Spodenkiewicz’s projects focus on methodological innovation in the measurement of subjectivity in mental health through qualitative or mixed methodologies and multimodal analyses integrating life trajectory analyses and artificial intelligence techniques.
Pablo Alberto Martínez Diaz, PhD
Pablo Martínez has a Ph.D. in Psychology from the Universidad de Santiago de Chile and is a postdoctoral fellow at the Douglas Research Centre (McGill University) and the Université de Sherbrooke – where he is doing a research internship at the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ). He is a young researcher at the Millennium Institute for Depression and Personality Research (MIDAP) and the Millennium Nucleus to Improve the Mental Health of Adolescents and Youths (Imhay) – two Chilean mental health research hubs. His research interests are improving the treatment of common mental disorders in primary care and the psychosocial causes of mental disorders, particularly during the perinatal period and early childhood. He has hands-on experience managing and analyzing large longitudinal databases – including administrative databases – and conducting evidence syntheses – ranging from scoping reviews to meta-regressions.
Léa Perret, PhD
I have a PhD in Mental Health from the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University. My PhD research focused on investigating underlying mechanisms in the association between peer victimization in youth, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation in adolescence and adulthood. As a postdoctoral fellow I am now studying how co-morbid mental and physical disorders in youth may impact risks of suicide and non-suicide mortality in adulthood.
Graduate students
Ophélie Collet, MSc
Ophélie Collet is currently a PhD candidate in public health at Université de Montréal. Her research examines the developmental factors associated with mental health and academic success across the lifespan in population-based cohorts. She completed a Bachelor’s degree in Biology at Rennes 1 University (France) and a Master’s degree in public health with a specialization in biostatistics at Bordeaux University (France). She has experience in developmental research, epidemiology, and biostatistics in Canada, France, and New Zealand
Jovia Wong, BA
Jovia Wong has worked under the supervision of Dr. Orri as of May 2022. Their project investigates the associations of language development during childhood and the risk of suicide ideation and suicide attempt during adolescence and young adulthood, using data collected from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD). Jovia is enrolled as a M.Sc. Neuroscience (Integrated Program in Neuroscience) student at McGill University.
Cassandra Zephirin, BA
Broadly speaking, Cassandra is passionate about research that helps to identify risk or protective factors involved in the development or maintenance of psychological outcomes in high-risk populations. She completed her B.A. with Honours in Psychology at Concordia University in 2021, then worked as a Laboratory Coordinator in the Centre for Research in Human Development at Concordia University. Prior to beginning her Master’s degree, she worked as a Research Assistant at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute with her current supervisor, Dr. Orri, with whom she began her M.Sc. in Psychiatry at McGill University in September 2022. Her MSc thesis investigates the association of early childhood irritability with youth suicidal behavior. Cassandra is also a member of the Douglas Student Committee for Academic Life, where she contributes to the planning of scientific activities involving students, trainees, and other investigators of the Douglas Hospital Research Centre.
Laura Moro, MA
Laura Moro is a Ph.D. student in clinical psychology at University of Montreal. She is completing her thesis under the supervision of Dr. Martin Lepage and Dr. Massimiliano Orri. Her work focuses on suicidal thoughts and attempts during first-episode psychosis, a clinical population known to be at high risk of suicide. Examining the first years of treatment for first-episode psychosis, her research aims to investigate risk factors associated with suicidal thoughts and attempts and to identify trajectories of suicidality.
Jude Balit, BSc
Jude Balit is currently an M.Sc. candidate in Epidemiology at McGill University, with Dr. Orri as her supervisor. Prior to this, she received her B.Sc. in Immunology, also at McGill, and she spent a year working in clinical research at the Montreal Children's Hospital. Her main interest for her thesis is the long-term effects of prematurity on mental health outcomes in Quebec. Please feel free to reach out through email for details
Undergraduate students, medical students, and volunteers
Kelly Jane Rosialda
Kelly is an undergraduate psychology student at McGill University. She is currently completing a summer project under the supervision of Dr. Massimiliano Orri. Her work focuses on the relationship between emotion dysregulation and suicidal behaviour
Dylan James
Dylan is an undergraduate psychology student at McGill University. He is currently completing a honours thesis under the supervision of Dr. Massimiliano Orri. His work focuses on the risk of suicide attempt among youth with a history of self-harm
Alumni
Naomie Gendron
Medical student at McGill University, she worked on a knowledge translation project on protective factors for youth suicidal behavior in 2022-2023. Currently a resident in Family Medicine
Dalia Schaffer
Psychology student at McGill University, undergraduate student in the lab in 2020-2022. Currently completing her degree in Psychology