Professor, Dalhousie University Departments of
  Psychiatry, Psychology and Pharmacology
Affiliated Scientist, Capital District Health Authority
Director, Department of Psychiatry Research
Director, CDHA Chronobiology and Sleep Program
8th floor, Abbie J. Lane Memorial Building
Phone: (902) 473-2433 or 494-2159
Fax: (902) 473-4887
E-mail: rusak@dal.ca

Dr. Benjamin Rusak graduated from the University of Toronto (Psychology) and received a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley (Biopsychology). He has been a faculty member at Dalhousie University since 1975, and a Full Professor since 1984. His roles have included serving as the Director of Research in Psychiatry (since 2000) and as Acting Assistant Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Medicine. He serves as Director of an integrated academic-clinical Chronobiology and Sleep Program in the Capital District Health Authority.

Dr. Rusak has published over a 135 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. His laboratory’s research contributions have been recognized by his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Academy of Sciences, 1999), his appointment as a Dalhousie Faculty of Science Killam Professor (1995-2000), as a University Research Professor (2002-2007), and as a Guest Professor at Jilin University, China (2008-2013).

Dr. Rusak was the founding Editor of the Journal of Biological Rhythms (1986-1994) and has served on the editorial boards of Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews and Sleep. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience, on the Executive of the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms, as Vice-President, Research of the Canadian Sleep Society, as the CIHR University Delegate to Dalhousie, and as a member of grant review panels for MRC/CIHR, NSERC, NSHRF, and NIH (USA). He has served on the Dalhousie Clinician Investigator Program committee and on the Life Sciences Advisory Committee of the Canadian Space Agency. He currently serves on the Research Advisory Committee of the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation, as a member of the Executive of the Dalhousie Brain Repair Centre, on the Institute Advisory Board for the CIHR Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health, and on the Faculty of Medicine Clinician Scientist Oversight Committee.

Research Interests:

Dr. Rusak’s primary research interests are in the mechanisms regulating circadian (daily) rhythms and sleep in mammals, and in related human health issues. His current research includes both individual and collaborative projects in the following areas:

• neural and endocrine regulation of circadian rhythms and sleep
• brain imaging studies of the effects of sleep deprivation on mood and cognition
• sleep and rhythms in mood disorders
• effects of sleep loss on performance, endocrine function, and pain sensitivity