Before the Beginning and After the End

Anisman, Hymie: - Shimon and Chana (Henia) Anisman, and their two-year-old son Chaim (Hymie) reached Halifax, Canada on January 1, 1950, after attempting to emigrate from Europe for four years following the Shoah. They settled in Montreal, where Hymie attended a Yeshiva and subsequently obtained university training, and then received his doctorate at the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario) in 1972. He accepted a position at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, in the Psychology Department and subsequently the Department of Neuroscience where he continues to be a faculty member. He was a Fellow of the Ontario Mental Research foundation, held a Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Neuroscience, and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.Hymie's research has focused on the neurobiological and immunological effects of stressors and the impact of these processes on psychological and physical health disturbances. Much of his research has concerned the multiple factors that increase an individual's vulnerability to the adverse effects of stressful events and those that imbue them with resilience. These have included the interplay between genetic factors and environmental experiences that can affect diverse pathologies. These experiences comprise adverse events encountered during childhood, chronic discrimination, the consequences of unsupportive social interactions, and the impact of collective historical trauma on the transmission of stressor effects across generations. Hymie and Maida are the parents of Simon, Rebecca, Jessica, and Max, and grandparents of Aoife and Shep.