Boosting Depression Recovery with Exercise + Brain Stimulation
Help people with depression feel better, faster and enable the first-ever study combining exercise “snacks” with brain stimulation to transform care.
Project Description
More than 280 million people worldwide experience depression, and for many, finding relief can be a long journey despite receiving treatment. At UBC, our team is piloting an innovative approach that combines physical activity snacks—short bursts of movement lasting just 15 minutes—with a one-day, accelerated course of intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS), a noninvasive brain stimulation therapy proven to help depression.
In this pilot study, 10 participants with depression will complete three 15-minute activity snacks: one before starting iTBS, one midway through, and one near the end of the day. These are timed to take advantage of brain plasticity, potentially boosting the effects of stimulation. Each iTBS day will deliver 15 treatments spaced 30 minutes apart.
Your support can make a huge difference to help recruit participants, fund essential equipment and support the dedicated staff running this study. With your help, we can generate the preliminary data needed to secure larger grants, andif successful, this approach could pave the way to bring faster, more accessible treatment options for those living with depression.
Challenges and Impact of Your Support
One of the biggest challenges in developing novel depression treatments is gathering robust early evidence before major funding can become available. Pilot studies like ours often struggle to find resources for specialized equipment, participant compensation, and support for trained staff. Without this initial investment, promising therapies can stall before reaching patients.
By contributing, you will:
- Enable us to complete the first-ever study combining exercise and iTBS for depression.
- Support the work of a talented, multidisciplinary UBC research team.
- Help create a scalable intervention that could transform depression care.
Your gift will have an immediate impact—helping accelerate our ability to deliver better treatments to those living with depression.
About Our Team
Our team is led by Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez, Associate Professor in Psychiatry and Biomedical Engineering at UBC, and founding Co-Director of the Interventional Brain Medicine Program. Dr. Vila-Rodriguez’s research focuses on innovative treatments for mood disorders, combining brain stimulation, neuroimaging, and lifestyle interventions. Our multidisciplinary team includes psychiatrists, exercise scientists, neuroscientists, and students, all committed to improving mental health care in British Columbia and beyond.
Dr. Guy Faulkner is a Professor in UBC’s School of Kinesiology and a CIHR-PHAC Chair in Applied Public Health. He leads the Population Physical Activity (Pop-PA) Lab, partnering with communities, schools, and policymakers to make everyday movement easier for everyone. His research links physical activity with better mental health and designs real-world, population-level interventions that help people move more and feel better. In our project, Guy ensures evidence becomes practical, scalable programs that improve daily life and build healthier communities.
Dasha Sosna is a PhD student in UBC’s Pop-PA Lab (School of Kinesiology). With a BSc (University of Calgary) and an MSc (San Francisco State), her work examines how exercise can enhance the antidepressant effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for people with treatment-resistant depression. She bridges lab and community, helping turn evidence into practical programs that make movement part of mental health care. In our project, Dasha leads on measurement, participant experience, and linking daily activity with wellbeing.