1. Cynthia El Hage, Ph. D Address: Appt 206-1295 Av Lajoie
Nationality: Lebanese Montréal (QC) H2V1P4
Date of birth: 12/06/1984 in Lebanon Phone number: +1 (514) 240 3324
email: elhagecynthia@gmail.com
EDUCATION
2012-2015: Department of Pharmacology, Université de Montréal – Montréal
Postdoctoral fellow
Subject: Brain reward system: schizophrenia and drug addiction
2008-2012: Center of Research in Neurosciences – Lyon, France
Master and Ph. D in Neurosciences
Subject: Neuronal correlates of anxiety during cocaine withdrawal
2006-2007: Lebanese University, Faculty of Sciences - Fanar, Lebanon
Master in Physiology
2002-2006: Lebanese University, Faculty of Sciences - Fanar, Lebanon
Bachelor of Biology
1999-2002: Soeurs Des Saints Cœurs College - Kfarhbab, Lebanon
French and Lebanese Baccalaureate in Sciences
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2012-2015: Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, Université de Montréal
Subject: Alteration of the reward system by antipsychotic treatments
Contact: Anne-Noel Samaha, Ph. D; anna.samaha@umontreal.ca
2014: Member of the organizing committee for “Journée de la recherche Gabriel L.
Plaa 2014”
2013: Evaluation of scientific abstracts for the “Journée de la recherche Gabriel L.
Plaa 2013”
2008-2012: Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Physiopathology of the neuronal network
responsible for the sleep-waking cycle laboratory, Anxiety and Depression
Team
Subject: Neuronal correlates of anxiety during cocaine withdrawal
Contact: Anne Berod, Ph. D; anne.berod@univ-lyon1.fr
Guillaume Lucas, Ph. D; guillaume.lucas@gmail.com

2. 2007-2008: Public Health Faculty, Laboratory of Immunology
Subject: Evaluation of the vaccinal potential of a Plasmodium falciparum protein
in mice
Contact: Hasnaa Bouharoun-Tayoun, Ph. D; hbtayoun@ul.edu.lb
Souleima Chamat, Ph. D; schamat@ul.edu.lb
2005-2008: Private lessons teaching for students in preparation of the Baccalaureate
2002-2003: 60 hour’s session at Lebanese Red Cross
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
2012-2015: Behavioral tests in rats: Pavlovian conditioning and pursuing reward cues in rats
Intra-jugular cannulae implantation for drug self-administration: learning in process
Supervising bachelor and master students
2008-2012: Immunohistochemistry,
In situ Hybridization,
Behavioral tests in rats: Anxiety and depression related tests
Intra cerebral cannulae implantation (stereotaxic surgeries)
2007-2008: ELISA
Western Blot
Cell culture and preparation of dendritic cells
Behavioral tests in rats: Blood tests on SCID mice
CONFERENCES AND AWARDS
Second price for best poster: Journée de la recherche Gabriel L. Plaa - Montréal 2014: Poster
presentation: “L’altération du système de récompense par un traitement antipsychotique:
rôle du noyau accumbens”. Cynthia El Hage, Anne-Noël Samaha
Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CAN): Montréal 2014: Oral presentation: “Chronic
haloperidol enhances amphetamine-induced conditioned reward: altered reward circuits?”
Cynthia El Hage, Anne-Noël Samaha
Groupe de Recherche sur le Système Nerveux Central (GRSNC) - Montréal 2014: Oral
presentation: “Altération du système de récompense par un traitement chronique aux
antipsychotiques: addiction aux drogues chez les patients schizophrènes”.
Society for Neurosciences (SfN) - San Diego 2013: Poster presentation: “Chronic haloperidol
enhances amphetamine-induced conditioned reward: contributions of the dorsal and
ventral striatum”. Cynthia El Hage, Anne-Marie Bédard, Joée Guillemette Lafontaine, Anne-
Noël Samaha
Drug Brain Behavior journal club (DBB) - Montréal 2013: Oral presentation: “Alteration of the
reward system by a chronic antipsychotic treatment: drug addiction in schizophrenic
patients”.

3. First price for best poster: Journée de la recherche Gabriel L. Plaa - Montréal 2013: Poster
presentation: “L’altération du système de récompense par un traitement antipsychotique:
rôle du noyau accumbens”. Cynthia El Hage, Joée Guillemette Lafontaine, Anne-Noël
Samaha
European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) - Workshop Nice 2012: Poster
presentation: “Neurobiological correlates of cocaine-induced anxiety in withdrawn rats”.
Cynthia El Hage, Anne Bérod
Society for Neurosciences (SfN) Anxiety and Depression 21st
Neuropharmacology Conference –
Washington DC 2011: Poster presentation: “Neurobiological correlates of cocaine-induced
anxiety in withdrawn rats”. Cynthia El Hage, Anne Bérod
French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutic (SFPT) - Conference Grenoble 2011: Poster
presentation: “Disruption in ability to cope with anxiogenic environments is associated with
impaired reactivity of the medial prefrontal cortex in cocaine withdrawn rats”. Cynthia El
Hage, Anne Bérod
European Neuroscience Federation Conference (FENS) - Conference Amsterdam 2010: Poster
presentation: “Disruption in ability to cope with anxiogenic environments is associated with
impaired reactivity of the medial prefrontal cortex in cocaine withdrawn rats”. Cynthia El
Hage, Anne Bérod
First price for best poster: Center of Research in Neurosciences Lyon - Lyon 2010: Ph. D
Students Day: “Disruption in ability to cope with anxiogenic environments is associated with
impaired reactivity of the medial prefrontal cortex in cocaine withdrawn rats”
PUBLICATION
“Enhanced anxiety observed in cocaine withdrawn rats is associated with altered reactivity
of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex”. El Hage et al., 2012. PLoS One
“Antipsychotic treatment leading to dopamine supersensitivity persistently alters nucleus
accumbens function”. El Hage et al., 2015. Neuropharmacology- Paper accepted
5HT(2A) receptors modulate the expression of antipsychotic-induced dopamine
supersensitivity”. Charron and El Hage et al., 2015. Paper in preparation
LINGUISTIC AND COMPUTER SKILLS
Arabic, French and English (spoken, written and read)
Microsoft Office, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
Statistic analysis software: Statview, GraphPad Prism, SPSS
Cell counting software: Mercator
Driver’s licence