Six SickKids scientists renewed as Canada Research Chairs

Dr. Brent Derry - Tier 1 CRC in Animal Models of Human Disease 

Dr. Brent Derry, Senior Scientist in Developmental, Stem Cell & Cancer Biology, uses unique preclinical models to study the molecular mechanisms that underpin cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM), a neurovascular disease, and neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system. Using powerful genetic tools, he will identify and investigate implicated genes and determine how inherited protein aggregates influence the identity that cells take early in development.  

Dr. Annie Huang - Tier 1 CRC in Rare Childhood Brain Tumors 

Dr. Annie Huang, SickKids oncologist and Senior Scientist in Cell & Systems Biology, is dedicated to the study of rare brain cancers in children and created a global consortium to that effect. Having traced the molecular landscape of rare embryonal brain tumours and studied the root causes of therapeutic sensitivities and resistance, she will leverage the DECRYPT-BABYBRAIN clinical trial, a first pan-Canadian baby brain study to develop new radiation-free treatment for young children with rare and aggressive brain cancers.

Dr. Christopher Pearson - Tier 1 CRC in Disease-associated Genome Instability  

Dr. Christopher Pearson, Senior Scientist in Genetics & Genome Biology, has long studied disease-causing tandem DNA repeat expansions, genetic variants where a sequence of DNA is copied repeatedly. He is investigating the therapeutic potential of NA analogs, compounds that reverse those expansions, for many repeat expansion disorders, including Huntington's disease, C9orf72-ALS/FTD, and myotonic dystrophy.   

Dr. Lillian Sung - Tier 1 CRC in Data-Enabled Pediatric Precision Medicine

Dr. Lillian Sung, SickKids Chief Clinical Data Scientist and Senior Scientist, Child Health Evaluative Sciences, is creating paediatric foundation models trained on large-scale datasets curated from electronic health records. Unlike traditional machine learning approaches that require a new model for each use case, foundation models provide a scalable platform that can support multiple clinical applications across paediatric care. Her team is evaluating whether these models can generalize across multiple paediatric institutions, enabling machine learning innovations to be deployed more efficiently, more broadly and with greater impact for children around the world. 

Dr. Anna Heath - Tier 2 CRC in Statistical Trial Design 

Small patient populations and diverse treatment responses can make typical randomized controlled trials infeasible when studying rare diseases or precision medicine approaches. Instead, Dr. Anna Heath, Senior Scientist in Child Health Evaluative Sciences, is exploring a new way to design clinical trials using Bayesian inference, where trial results are combined with previous findings in a mathematical combination that can draw stronger conclusions. The aim is to help effective treatments could enter clinical practice faster. 

Dr. Ji-Young Youn - Tier 2 CRC in Membraneless Organelle Proteomics 

Many variants that cause neurological disorders occur in genes that produce condensates, tiny parts of cells that help control how RNAs are processed and turned into proteins. Dr. Ji-Young Youn, Senior Scientist in Molecular Medicine, will explore how condensates function, how they are disrupted by such variants, and how that can trigger disease. She will also design and test new therapeutic strategies in lab and preclinical models in an effort to translate her discovery science.