Pushpal Desarkar

Dr. Pushpal Desarkar is a scientist and adult neurodevelopmental psychiatrist with the Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopment Centre at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Dr. Desarkar is also the medical head of the adult neurodevelopmental services at CAMH. He is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry, and a graduate faculty member at the Institute of Medical Sciences, both at the University of Toronto.

Areas of Research

Dr. Desarkar seeks to address two overarching goals through his research: obtaining new knowledge related to neurophysiological underpinnings in neuropsychiatric disorders, especially autism, across the lifespan, and developing novel therapeutic interventions for these conditions.

Using innovative brain stimulation techniques, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and the combination of TMS and EEG (TMS-EEG), he is investigating evidence for atypical neuroplasticity and its connection with autism-associated difficulties (e.g. motor function difficulties, sensory sensitivities, executive function difficulties). He is using novel brain stimulation techniques to develop innovative ‘brain mechanism-driven’ treatment options for these autism-associated difficulties to improve outcomes for autistic adults.

He received funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation of Canada, CAMH Discovery Fund, salary support from the academic scholar award at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, and the Innovation Fund of the Alternative Funding Plan for the Academic Health Sciences Centres of Ontario. 

Publications

View Dr. Desarkar's publications on Google Scholar and PubMed.