By: Dr. Natalia Mansur Haddad
I have enjoyed studying and understanding schizophrenia since the initial period of my first graduation, still in the field of psychology. Afterwards, I went to medical school to become a psychiatrist. Thereby, I have always been fascinated by psychosis in general as an area of study and research. During the last 10 years of clinical practice, I delved deeper into the care of chemically dependent patients and substance use disorders. At the confluence of these subjects, I have the privilege of studying the endocannabinoid system in a population with psychosis and how the impact of cannabis can influence its regulation.
In 2022 I had the great opportunity to win the SIRS Early Career Award. On that occasion, I was able to show the partial results of our study, which pointed to the use of cannabis as a factor that influences the reduction in endocannabinoid 2-AG values in plasma. In the following years, we continued to study the ECS and found an increase in peripheral CB2 receptors associated with the use of non-clozapine antipsychotics. The data complement the current literature, which is ambiguous and should be further studied.
It was very important for a young investigator like me to attend to an international meeting and it was a unique opportunity to establish international collaboration with important researchers in the field. It was a great honor and an encouragement to proceed with my research. I recently published an article with the findings of my thesis on changes in the endocannabinoid system of patients with schizophrenia in the European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience Journal.
I have started my master's degree in February 2020, upgraded to doctorate degree and my thesis defense will take place next month.
All this development and career evolution in recent years gives me confidence to continue researching and sharing the results of my research with the international community. I believe that one of the main objectives is to align research results with clinical practice, thus contributing to the development of new screening methods for the disorder such as biomarkers, which can improve the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of these individuals.
My research group is very diverse, we work at a Public Hospital and University in São Paulo - Brazil, and adverse situations are very frequent in an underrepresented country. However, year after year we prove that we can carry out quality research and talk to researchers from around the world, contributing relevant data from a large and diverse population sample with a major impact on global health. We intend to continue building knowledge and strengthening ties with the international community.
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