Professor Alain Brunet is the Director of the National PTSD Centre and UniSC’s Thompson Institute.
He has investigated the impact of trauma exposure on individuals for more than 20 years, with a special focus on characterising risk factors and developing effective treatments for PTSD.
Professor Brunet has developed a novel treatment called reconsolidation therapy which has been used with victims of terrorism in the Bataclan (Paris, France). This treatment made the top ten discoveries list for 2008 in the magazine Québec Science.
In 2001, Professor Brunet developed the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory, or PDI, the first instrument to assess the recalled amount of distress experienced at the time of a traumatic event. The PDI is now used by more than 40 teams across the world and has been translated into 12 languages.
Professor Brunet is a past co-editor of the Journal of Traumatic Stress, the premier specialty journal in the field of traumatic stress. He was a vice-president and a board member of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS).
He is a co-recipient of several grants from the CIHR, the IRSST, and from the U.S. Army to pursue work on Reconsolidation Therapy for PTSD.
In 2006, he was listed on MacLean’s annual honor roll as one of 39 Canadians who make the world a better place to live and was named "Personality of the Week" by the Montreal newspaper La Presse.
In 2015 he was listed by GEO Magazine among the people who are changing our world for the better.
Professor Brunet has been a member of the CAHS (Canadian Academy of Health Sciences) since 2021. In 2022 he won the career award of the Canadian Psychological Association – Traumatic Stress Section. In 2023 he won the Leo-Pariseau Award which annually recognizes the excellence and influence of an individual’s work in the field of biological or health sciences.
His expertise in trauma and stressor related disorders is ranked among the top 1 percent in the world by Expertscape.
Professor Brunet also has a background as a clinical psychologist.
Recognitions
Expertise in trauma and stressor related disorders ranked among top 1 percent in the world by Expertscape
Leo-Pariseau Prize, Association francophone pour le savoir (ACFAS), 2023
Listed by GEO Magazine among the people who are changing the world for the better 2015
MacLean’s honor roll as on of 39 Canadians who make the world a better place to live, 2006
Top Ten Discoveries List, Québec Science, 2008
Memberships
Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS)
Current Research grants
Project name: Enhancing Ukraine’s capacities to treat trauma-related disorders
Investigator: Alain Brunet & Mykhaylo Pustovoyt
Funding body: NATO
Year: 2024
Focus: To lead a group of scholars who give a 1-week workshop on the treatment of PTSD.
Funding amount: 70 000 euros.
Potential research projects:
- Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
- PTSD measure validation
- Co-supervisions with other TI/NPRC investigators
- Reconsolidation Therapy research
- Online surveys
Research areas
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Assessment of PTSD
- Neurobiology of PTSD
- Natural disaster trauma
- Peritraumatic stress and perinatal trauma
- Prenatal maternal stress
- Early life trauma
- Randomised controlled trials
- Epidemiology
- Reduction of PTSD symptoms with pre-reactivation propranolol… (Brunet et al. 2018).
- Impairing memory reconsolidation with propranolol in healthy and clinical samples: A meta-analysis (Pigeon et al., 2022).
- Mental disorder symptoms among public safety personnel in Canada… (Carleton et al., 2018)
- Coping during pregnancy following exposure to a natural disaster… (Chen et al., 2020)
- A narrative review of the epigenetics of PTSD…(Cao-Lei et al., 2022)
Professor Alain Brunet has investigated the impact of trauma exposure on individuals for more than 20 years, with a special focus on characterising risk factors and developing effective treatments for PTSD. Professor Brunet has developed a novel treatment called reconsolidation therapy which has been used with victims of terrorism in the Bataclan (Paris, France). This treatment made the top ten discoveries list for 2008 in the magazine Québec Science. In 2001, Professor Brunet developed the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory, or PDI, the first instrument to assess the recalled amount of distress experienced at the time of a traumatic event. The PDI is now used by more than 40 teams across the world and has been translated into 12 languages. Professor Brunet is a past co-editor of the Journal of Traumatic Stress, the premier specialty journal in the field of traumatic stress. He was a vice-president and a board member of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS). He is a co-recipient of several grants from the CIHR, the IRSST, and from the U.S. Army to pursue work on Reconsolidation Therapy for PTSD. In 2006, he was listed on MacLean’s annual honor roll as one of 39 Canadians who make the world a better place to live and was named "Personality of the Week" by the Montreal newspaper La Presse. In 2015 he was listed by GEO Magazine among the people who are changing our world for the better. Professor Brunet has been a member of the CAHS (Canadian Academy of Health Sciences) since 2021. In 2022 he won the career award of the Canadian Psychological Association – Traumatic Stress Section. In 2023 he won the Leo-Pariseau Award which annually recognizes the excellence and influence of an individual’s work in the field of biological or health sciences. His expertise in trauma and stressor related disorders is ranked among the top 1 percent in the world by Expertscape.