Our History
MENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH CANADA opened its doors on April 1, 2018, building on the 55-year legacy of its predecessor organization, the Ontario Mental Health Foundation (OMHF).
2018: The OMHF closesd its doors on March 31, 2018.
2015: Collaborated with five Canadian mental health research funders to fund the first Canada-wide project on valid, reliable performance indicators for Canadian mental health services – critical for improving the performance of mental health care systems. Rand Europe identified the OMHF as the sixth most productive funder of mental health research in Canada and in the top 100 worldwide.
2014: Became a member of the International Alliance of Mental Health Research Funders.
2013: Dr. Jeff Daskalakis, a long-time OMHF-funded researcher, received the Dr. Samarthji Lal award from the Graham Boeckh Foundation. The award honours a Canadian researcher in the area of psychiatry, with a focus on major mental disorders, who is mid-career and making an outstanding contribution to the field.
2012: Dr. Heather Stuart, a past OMHF-funded researcher and current OMHF board member, became the world’s first Bell Mental Health and Anti-Stigma Research Chair.
2005: Founding partner and oversaw a multi-year research project, System Enhancement Evaluation Initiative (SEEI), to evaluate the outcome of increased funding for community mental health programs.
2004: Supported (with Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care) a multi-year project to address the issue of women and depression.
2001: Developed a Special Initiatives Program that supported large-scale projects to generate discoveries in therapies for psychotic illnesses. Funded three multi-year projects solely: Epigenetics of Schizophrenia, Dr. Arturas Petronis; Decoding Schizophrenia, Dr. Sajit Kapur; and Early Intervention in Schizophrenia, Dr. Jean Addington.
1997: Partnered in and oversaw a five-year, multi-site project, Community Mental Health Evaluation Initiative, to evaluate aspects of Ontario’s community mental health system – the most significant body of research on community mental health carried out in Ontario.
1990: Planned, managed and funded the first Ontario Mental Health Survey. Also created and funded special grant competition for applications to analyze the survey’s results.
1981: Set up Peer Review Committees for grants and fellowships, to review applications for scientific merit and relevance.
1976: Received $600,000 in funding from the Ontario Lottery.
1975: Sponsored scientific cluster meetings in abnormal child development, affective disorders, schizophrenia, and evaluation of the mental health care delivery system.
1973: Commissioned a feasibility study of promising areas of mental health research.
1972: Funded and published an Annual Register of Mental Health Research to highlight the work being done in Ontario and underresearched areas.
1968: Provided funding support to mental health scientists fleeing Czechoslovakia.
1966: Established the Travelling Fellowship program.
1964: Established the Research Associateship (Senior Fellowship) and Educational Associateship (Research Training Fellowship) programs.
1963: Created a separate corporation to operate a psychiatric institution – the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in honour of Dr. C.K. Clarke. Awards granted for first time: $328,000 ($2.4 million in 2015) for 33 researchers.
1962: A Special Act of the Ontario Legislature establishes the Ontario Mental Health Foundation, led by Justice Arthur Kelly, who made a sizable donation to the OMHF.