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Faculty Focus - Clement Hamani

Clement Hamani

Clement Hamani, MD PhD

Dr. Clement Hamani received his medical degree from Escola Paulista de Medicina in São Paulo in 1993 and went on to receive his PhD in Neurosciences from the same institution. He completed a Research and Clinical Fellowship in Functional Neurosurgery at the Division of Neurosurgery at Toronto Western Hospital. In 2008, he joined the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health as a Research Associate and became Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Division of Neurosurgery. In 2013, he won the Ohye Award, awarded by the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (WSSFN) to promote clinical research in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery. In 2017 he joined the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the Sunnybrook Research Institute.

Dr. Hamani is currently Full Professor in Neurosurgery/ Surgery and Co-chair of the Neurosurgery research council at the University of Toronto. He is a Senior scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute, Research Director of the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program, preclinical lead of the Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation and a neurosurgeon at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences centre. Dr. Hamani’s research focuses on the treatment of movement disorders, pain, epilepsy, and psychiatric disorders.

Current Appointments

  • Full Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto
  • Affiliate Neuroscientist, Division of Neurosurgery, University of Toronto

Selected Professional Activities

  • Board Member, World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery

Selected Peer-Reviewed Funding

  • New Frontiers in Research Funds, 2022-2024

Novel deep brain stimulation approaches to restore neurocircuit function in treatment resistant depression. Role: Co-applicant CAD$ 250,000

  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research, 2021-2026

Neuromodulation approaches to mitigate and treat cognitive deficits and neuropathology in a rodent model of traumatic brain injury. Role: Principal Investigator CAD$ 791.775

  • Veteran and Family Well-Being Funds- Veterans’s Affairs Canada, 2019-2023

Launching a Neuromodulation Research Program for PTSD at Sunnybrook. Role: Co-Principal Investigator CAD$ 1,250,000

  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research, 2019-2024

Parallel Radiofrequency Transmission MRI applied to Deep Brain Stimulation. Role: Co-Investigator CAD$ 841,500

  • Weston Brain Institute, 2018-2022

A Phase IIa Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) Opening ­Using Transcranial MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. Role: Co-Investigator CAD$ 1,496,500

  • Dana Foundation, 2018-2021

Determining the feasibility of a clinical trial on deep brain stimulation treatment for PTSD. Role: Principal Investigator USD$ 200,000

Selected Publications

  • Hamani C, Davidson B, Corchs F, Abrahao A, Nestor SM, Rabin JS, Nyman A, Phung L, Goubran M, Levitt A, Talakoub O, Giacobbe P, Lipsman N. Deep Brain Stimulation of the subgenual cingulum and uncinate fasciculus for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder Science Advances 2022 Dec 2;8(48):eadc9970.
  • Davidson B, Giacobbe P, George TP, Nestor SM, Rabin JS, Goubran M, Nyman AJ, Baskaran A, Meng Y, Pople CB, Graham SJ, Tam F, Hamani C, Lipsman N. Deep brain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens in the treatment of severe alcohol use disorder: a phase I pilot trial. Mol Psychiatry. 2022 Oct;27(10):3992-4000.
  • Meng Y, Reilly RM, Pezo RC, Trudeau M, Sahgal A, Singnurkar A, Perry J, Myrehaug S, Pople CB, Davidson B, Llinas M, Hyen C, Huang Y, Hamani C, Suppiah S, Hynynen K, Lipsman N. MR-guided focused ultrasound enhances delivery of trastuzumab to Her2-positive brain metastases. Sci Transl Med. 2021 Oct 13;13(615):eabj4011.
  • Hamani C, Fonoff ET, Parravano DC, Silva VA, Galhardoni R, Monaco B, Navarro J, Yeng LT, Teixeira MJ, Ciampi de Andrade D. Motor cortex stimulation for chronic neuropathic pain: results of a double-blind randomized study. Brain. 2021 Nov 29;144(10):2994-3004.
  • Knotkova H, Hamani C, Sivanesan E, Le Beuffe MFE, Moon JY, Cohen SP, Huntoon MA. Neuromodulation for chronic pain. Lancet. 2021 May 29;397(10289):2111-2124.
  • Davidson B, Hamani C, Rabin JS, Goubran M, Meng Y, Huang Y, Baskaran A, Sharma S, Ozzoude M, Richter MA, Levitt A, Giacobbe P, Hynynen K, Lipsman N. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound capsulotomy for refractory obsessive compulsive disorder and major depressive disorder: clinical and imaging results from two phase I trials. Mol Psychiatry 2020 Sep;25(9):1946-1957.
  • Abrahao A, Meng Y, Llinas M, Huang Y, Hamani C, Mainprize T, Aubert I, Heyn C, Black SE, Hynynen K, Lipsman N, Zinman L. First-in-human trial of blood brain barrier opening in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using MR-guided focused ultrasound. Nat Communications 2019 Sep 26;10(1):4373.
  • Reznikov R, Bambico F, Diwan M, Raymond RJ, Nashed MG, Nobrega JN, Hamani C. Deep Brain Stimulation improves behavioral and neurocircuitry abnormalities in a preclinical model of post-traumatic stress disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology 2018 43(5):1099-1106.
  • Holtzheimer PE, Husain MM, Lisanby SH, Taylor SF, Whitworth LA, McClintock S, Slavin KV, Berman J, McKhann GM, Patil PG, Rittberg BR, Abosch A, Pandurangi AK, Holloway KL, Lam RW, Honey CR, Neimat JS, Henderson JM, DeBattista C, Rothschild AJ, Pilitsis JG, Espinoza RT, Petrides G, Mogilner AY, Matthews K, Peichel D, Gross RE, Hamani C, Lozano AM, Mayberg HS. Subcallosal cingulate deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression: a multisite, randomised, sham-controlled trial. Lancet Psychiatry 2017 Nov;4(11):839-849.
  • Hamani C, Temel Y. Deep brain stimulation for psychiatric disease: contributions and validity of animal models. Sci Transl Med. 2012 Jul 11;4(142):142rv8.
  • Hamani C, Machado DC, Hipólide DC, Dubiela FP, Suchecki D, Macedo CE, Tescarollo F, Martins U, Covolan L, Nobrega JN. Deep brain stimulation reverses anhedonic-like behavior in a chronic model of depression: role of serotonin and brain derived neurotrophic factor. Biol Psychiatry. 2012 Jan 1;71(1):30-5.
  • Hamani C, Diwan M, Macedo CE, Brandão ML, Shumake J, Gonzalez-Lima F, Raymond R, Lozano AM, Fletcher PJ, Nobrega JN. Antidepressant-like effects of medial prefrontal cortex deep brain stimulation in rats. Biol Psychiatry. 2010 Jan 15;67(2):117-24.
  • Hamani C, McAndrews MP, Cohn M, Oh M, Zumsteg D, Shapiro CM, Wennberg RA, Lozano AM. Memory enhancement induced by hypothalamic/fornix deep brain stimulation. Ann Neurol. 2008 Jan;63(1):119-23.
  • Mayberg HS, Lozano AM, Voon V, McNeely HE, Seminowicz D, Hamani C, Schwalb JM, Kennedy S. Deep brain stimulation for treatment of resistant depression. Neuron 2005; 45:651-660