Our Staff

Louis T. van Zyl, M.B. Ch.B., M.Med., FRCPC, DFCPA, FAPM
Professor of Psychiatry (Emeritus)

Dr. van Zyl is Professor of Psychiatry (Emeritus) at Queen’s University. He is a psychiatrist with expertise in psychiatry of the medically ill, as well as in adult and child & adolescent sleep medicine. During his tenure at Queen’s University he established the Division of Psychosomatic Medicine, serving as chair of the division until 2008. He negotiated and established funding for a full-time fellowship position in psychosomatic medicine. He was Program Director for Queen’s University Department of Psychiatry Residency Training Program, and served as examiner on the Examination Board of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Previously, he was director of continuing professional development, University of Calgary.

He was Co-Founder & First President of the Canadian Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, and serves on boards of international medical associations. He was Fellow in Neuropsychiatry (Sleep Medicine), University of Toronto, and his work is currently focused on Clinical Sleep Medicine and current research in the area of insomnia and parasomnia in children and adolescents. He is based in Toronto.

Selected publications

Sertraline Treatment of Major Depression in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction or Unstable Angina; Glassmann A, O'Connor C, Califf R, Swedberg K, Schwartz P, Bigger J, Krishnan K, van Zyl L, Swenson J, Finkel M, Landau C, Shapiro P, Pepine C;  JAMA, August 14, 2002, Vol 288, No. 6, 701 – 709

Platelet/Endothelial Biomarkers in Depressed Patients Treated with the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Sertraline After Acute Coronary Events: The Sertraline AntiDepressant Heart Attack Randomized Trial(SADHART) Platelet Substudy; Serebruany VL, Glassman AH, Malinin AI, Nemeroff CB, Musselman DL, van Zyl LT, Finkel MS, Krishnan K, Gaffney M, Harrison W, Califf  RM,  O’Connor CM; Circulation, Aug 2003; 108:939-944

Influence of Depression and Effect of Treatment With Sertraline on Quality of Life After Hospitalization for Acute Coronary Syndrome; J. Robert Swenson, Christopher M. O’Connor, David Barton, Louis T. van Zyl, Karl Swedberg, Leslie M. Forman, Michael Gaffney, Alexander H. Glassmann; American Journal of Cardiology, Vol 92, December 1, 2003, p1271-1276

Relationship between Release of Platelet/Endothelial Biomarkers and Plasma Levels of Sertraline and N-Desmethylsertraline in Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients Receiving SSRI Treatment for Depression;  Serebruany V, Suckow R, Cooper T, O’Connor C, Malinin A, Krishnan KR, van Zyl LT, Lekht V, Glassman A,  
American Journal of Psychiatry 2005; 162:1165-1170

Design and Rationale for a Randomized, Controlled Trial of Interpersonal Psychotherapy and Citalopram for Depression in Coronary Artery Disease (CREATE); Nancy Frasure-Smith, Diana Koszycki, John Robert Swenson, Brian Baker, Louis T. van Zyl, Marc-André Laliberté, Beth L. Abramson, Jean Lambert, Ginette Gravel, and Francois Lespérance;  Psychosomatic Medicine 68:87–93 (January 2006)

Cardioversion of Recalcitrant Atrial Arrhythmia Following Initiation of Treatment with Venlafaxine During Successful Management of Major Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Susan Finch, Louis T. van Zyl;  Psychosomatics. Dec. 2006; 47:533-536

Escitalopram, but not its Major Metabolites, Exhibits Strong Antiplatelet Activity in Humans: An Additional Link Between Depression, Coronary Events, and Cardio-Protection with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs); Atar D, MD, Malinin A, MD, Takserman A, MD, Pokov A, MD, van Zyl L, MD, Tanguay J, Lesperance F, MD,  and Serebruany V, MD, PhD; Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology 2006;26:172–177

Antipsychotics in the Treatment of Delirium: A Critical Review of Prospective Trials; Dallas Seitz, Sudeep S. Gill, Louis T. van Zyl; Journal of Clinical Psychiatry January 2007; 68(1) p11-21

Antiplatelet Properties of Escitalopram in Patients with the Metabolic Syndrome: A Dose-Ranging in vitro Study; Atar D, Malinin A, Pokov A, van Zyl L, Frasure-Smith N, Lesperance F, Serebruany V.; Neuropsychopharmacology , November 2007; 32(11) p2369-2374

Effects of Citalopram and Interpersonal Psychotherapy on Depression in Coronary Artery Disease Patients: The Canadian Cardiac Randomized Evaluation of Antidepressant and Psychotherapy Efficacy Trial (CREATE); Lespérance F, Frasure-Smith N, Koszycki D, Laliberté M, van Zyl L, Baker B, Swenson J, Ghatavi K, Abramson B, Dorian P, Guertin M, for the CREATE investigators; JAMA  January 2007.  297(4) 367 – 379

Fluorometric Quantitation of Citalopram and Escitalopram Content in Plasma: Developing an Express-Method to Monitor Compliance in Clinical Trials; Victor Serebruany, M.D., Ph.D., Alex Malinin, M.D., Vadym Dragan, Dan Atar, M.D, Louis van Zyl, M.D, and Anatoly  Dragan, PhD.; Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine. 2007; 45(4): 513-520

Heart Rate Variability in Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients with Major Depression: Influence of Sertraline and Mood Improvement; Glassman A, Bigger JT, Gaffney M, van Zyl L; Archives of General Psychiatry. September 2007; 64(9): 1025 – 1031

Platelet and endothelial activity in comorbid major depression and coronary artery disease patients treated with citalopram: the Canadian Cardiac Randomized Evaluation of Antidepressant and Psychotherapy Efficacy Trial (CREATE) biomarker sub-study, van Zyl LT;  Lesperance F, Frasure-Smith N, Malinin AL,Atar D, M-A Laliberté, Serebruany VL; Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis. 2008; 27: 48-56

The Effects of Antidepressants on Heart Rate Variability in Major Depression: a Quantitative Review; Louis T. van Zyl, Takuya Hasegawa, Katsutaro Nagata, BioPsychoSocial Medicine .  2008; 2:12-22

First episode of major depressive disorder and vascular factors in coronary artery disease patients: Baseline characteristics and response to antidepressant treatment in the CREATE trial; Martine E. Habra, Brian Baker, Nancy Frasure-Smith, J. Robert Swenson, Diana Koszycki, Gordon Butleri, Louis T. van Zyl, François Lespérance,; Journal of Psychosomatic Research .  2010;

The Efficacy of Omega-3 Supplementation for Major Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial; Francois Lesperance, Nancy Frasure-Smith, Elise St-Andre, Gustavo Turecki, Paul Lesperance, Stephen Wisniewski
Acknowledgment: Louis T. van Zyl, et al; Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2010 Jun 15. [Epub ahead of print]

Making the Choice to Sleep: Differentiating between Interventions for Insomnia-A Focus on Non-Benzodiazepine Hypnotics; Louis T. van Zyl, Dora Zalai, Sheila Jacob, Colin Shapiro; Canadian Journal of Diagnosis, November 2013, Volume 30, Number 11

Diagnosis and Treatment for Patients with Psychosomatic Diseases, Organic Disease and Psychological Reaction: A Focus on Coronary Heart Disease and Depression; van Zyl L, Katsutaro Nagata, M.D. Ph.D.; Publisher Diagnosis and Treatment Medical Books Co. Ltd. Japan [Shindan lo ‘hirycu sha]

Recent Abstracts

Are Parasomnias In Children Of Minimal Clinical Concern? Louis van Zyl, MD, M.MED, FRCPC, FCPA, Sharon A. Chung, Soumya Mikkilineni, MBBS, Colin M. Shapiro, MB B.Ch, PhD, FRCPC, Youthdale Child & Adolescent Sleep Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada, Youthdale Treatment Centers, Toronto, ON, Canada

A Paradigm Shift in the Link between Sleep and Psychiatry; Louis T. van Zyl, Colin Shapiro, Azmeh Shahid, Ruzica Jokic; Youthdale Child & Adolescent Sleep Centre, Toronto, Queen’s University, University of Toronto