Discover how ordinary people are helping to advance health research at VCH

Caleb Gimson isn’t a researcher, doctor or scientist. Rather, the 28-year-old from East Vancouver works in software technical support and quality assurance. But he’s helping to advance cutting-edge mental health research. Caleb was struggling with depression when he participated in a CAN-BIND (Canadian Biomarker Integration Network in Depression) clinical trial that will try to take the guesswork out of psychiatric treatment for depression.

“No one in the field believes depression is one illness,” explained VCH Research Institute scientist Dr. Raymond Lam, one of six co-principal investigators of the study. He and his colleagues hope to find clear and objective ways of matching the right treatment to the right patient.

Caleb had an entirely positive experience. “I got to do all the cool science-y stuff seen on TV. Having access to an MRI once in someone’s life is usually a rare event and I had a number of them, which I view as an interesting privilege,” he said. “Being a part of the process that could turn diagnosis and treatment of depression into a simple and successful process would be my ideal contribution to medical research, which hopefully I’ve just done.”

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