Upton Allen

Interim Head
Transplant and Regenerative Medicine Centre (TRMC)

Senior Associate Scientist
Child Health Evaluative Sciences

Dr. Upton D. Allen is a Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto. He is Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). Allen is also a Senior Associate Scientist in Child Health Evaluative Sciences program at SickKids Research Institute. His primary appointment is with the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Paediatrics at SickKids. He is cross-appointed as a professor in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto.

Dr. Allen is a past director of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and Fellow of the Society. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (UK). In 2018, he was awarded the Order of Ontario, which is the highest honor awarded by the province of Ontario, Canada.

Research

Dr. Allen's major research focus has been in the field of Epstein Barr virus-related disorders in transplant patients. He has studied different aspects of EBV-related post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD), including EBV genetic diversity in the transplant patient with a focus on the effects of viral genetic variation on EBV-related outcomes such as PTLD. This work on viral variation is integrated with related work on host susceptibility to EBV. An important output from his research on EBV PTLD will be a new clinical classification for PTLD, which is based in part on differences in survival outcomes based on sites of initial occurrence of PTLD. He has established and leads an international collaborative research group to address the consequences of genetic diversity of EBV as this relates to EBV-associated malignancies affecting children (PTLD, Hodgkin and Burkitt lymphoma).

Using the research infrastructure that he has created, he has been able to rapidly build a team to address host genetic susceptibility to COVID-19. In addition, he is leading studies addressing the immune response profiles due to COVID-19 in different age groups.

Education and experience

• 12/2008–05/2009: Special Rotman Leadership Course, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
• 2008: FRCP (UK), Fellow, Royal College, United Kingdom.
• 2008: FIDSA, Fellow, Infectious Diseases Society of America.
• 1989–1991: Research fellow (Infectious Diseases),
  The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto.
• 1987–1989: Clinical fellow (Infectious Diseases), The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto.
• 1986–1987: FRCPC, FAAP (1987), Associate Chief Resident, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto.
• 1983–1986: Pediatric Resident, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto.
• 1982–1983: Senior House Officer in Internal Medicine / Infectious Diseases, Nassau
• 1981–1982: Intern, Princess Margaret Hospital, Nassau, Bahamas.
• 1988–1990: Degree: MSc (1989), Design Measurement and Evaluation, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.
• 1988–1989: Credit courses: (I) International Health, (II) Biostatistics. Clinical Epidemiology Programme, Dept. Community Health, University of Toronto.
• 1976–1981: MBBS (1981) (Honors in Medicine and Therapeutics), University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.

Achievements

• 06/2019: Caribbean Public Agency Award - for outstanding contributions to Infectious Diseases and Blood Disorder research and capacity building
• 04/2018: Order of Ontario
• 04/2018: Leader Circle Award, City of Toronto
• 04/2017: Bastable-Potts Endowed Chair in Infectious Diseases Research, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto
• 01/2016: Appointed to Decanal Promotion Committee, University of Toronto
• 01/2015: Appointed to Board, Leadership by Design (advancing education and mentorship of African-Canadian children)
• 01/2014: Appointed as Board Member, Sandals Foundation Canada
• 03/2013: AST Established Investigator Research Award (Clinical
  Science)
• 01/2013 Vice-chancellor award; University of the West Indies

1. Allen UD, Hu P, Pereira SL, Robinson JL, Paton TA, Beyene J, Khodai-Booran N, Dipchand A, Hébert D, Ng V, Nalpathamkalam T, Read S. The genetic diversity of Epstein-Barr virus in the setting of transplantation relative to non-transplant settings: A feasibility study. Pediatric Transplantation. 2016; 20(1):124-129.
2. L'Huillier AG, Dipchand A, Ng V, Hebert D, Avitzur Y, Solomon M, Yeung S, Allen U. Post-transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder in Pediatric Patients: Characteristics of Disease in
   EBV-seropositive Individuals. Transplantation 2019 Nov;103(11):e369-e374. doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000002898.
3. L’Huillier AG, Dipchand A, Ng V, Hebert D, Avitzur Y, Solomon M, Yeung S, Allen U. Post-transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder in Pediatric Patients: Proposed classification based on survival rates according to primary site of occurrence. Am J Transplant. 2019 Mar 18. doi:10.1111/ajt.15358.
4. Sullivan K, Isabel S, Khodai-Booran N, Paton TA, Abdulnoor M, Dipchand AI, Hébert D, Ng VL, Allen UD. Epstein-Barr virus latent gene EBNA-1 genetic diversity among transplant patients compared with patients with infectious mononucleosis. Clin Transplant. 2019 Apr;33(4):e13504. doi: 10.1111/ctr.13504. Epub 2019 Apr 1.
5. Allen UD, Preiksaitis JK; AST Infectious Diseases Community of Practice. Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders, Epstein-Barr virus infection, and disease in solid organ transplantation: Guidelines from the American Society of Transplantation Infectious Diseases Community of Practice. Clin Transplant. 2019 Jun 23:e13652. doi: 10.1111/ctr.13652.

Funding

• CIHR
• Alberta Innovates Health Solutions
• Enduring Heart Foundation
• Abbvie Canada
• University of Toronto
• SickKids Foundation