Third-year psychiatry resident Dr. Nicholas Fabiano has been very busy.
In recent weeks, he was the lead author in a published commentary about a high-impact study regarding the bioaccumulation of microplastics in the human brain. He was quoted in numerous media articles, including pieces in The Washington Post, National Post, and Fast Company.
He was profiled as a “rising star” in Brain Medicine, a new journal from Genomic Press that aims to cover innovations in fundamental neuroscience. And in a Q&A with that journal, he described his commitment to bridging the historical divide between physical and mental health, sharing details of what he learned firsthand after suffering an injury during medical school that required surgical repair and led to nerve damage.
Indeed, Dr. Fabiano says he believes that the line drawn between mental and physical health is “one of the biggest mistakes in medicine.”
“Mental and physical health are significantly intertwined and influence one another in a multitude of ways. By ignoring one's physical health, you are not thoroughly treating their mental health and vice versa,” he says. “As such, I have conducted numerous projects with departments outside of psychiatry – such as nephrology, cardiology, and ophthalmology, among others – to foster collaboration between fields more traditionally seen to operate in isolation.”
In another five years, Dr. Fabiano hopes to complete residency as well as additional graduate studies.
“This will allow me to focus on my passion for exercise, diet, and sleep as a treatment for mental disorders. I hope to contribute to the evidence base for their use across disorders and provide guidance for physicians looking for assistance on ‘prescribing’ these lifestyle measures,” he says.
How has being based in Ottawa and its broad research ecosystem benefited his early career so far? He says: “I have been in Ottawa since I began medical school in 2018 and have been surrounded by amazing colleagues and mentors since Day 1.”