Brian Kalish

Staff Neonatologist, Division of Neonatology

Research Scientist-Track Investigator

Brian Kalish, MD is a clinician-scientist, neonatologist, and neurobiologist. His research focuses on the developmental neurobiology of neurodevelopmental disorders and brain injury. He is also interested in mechanisms by which adverse exposures during pregnancy alter fetal brain development. His lab leverages single cell and spatial genomics, as well as mouse models and human tissue, to advance our understanding of human neurodevelopment and disease.

Research

Dr. Kalish’s research is motivated by the desire to improve the lives of fragile newborns and to prevent or treat neurodevelopmental disorders. Specifically, the mission of the Kalish Lab is to understand how pregnancy and early life experience shape neurodevelopment and plasticity. The lab leverages cutting-edge molecular neuroscience and genomics to address fundamental questions at the intersection of neurodevelopment and reproductive biology.

Education

• 2008–2013: MD, Harvard Medical School (Magna Cum Laude), Boston, Massachusetts United States
• 2004–2008: BA, Public Health Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
• 2013–2015:  Resident, Pediatrics, Boston Combined Residency Program (Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center), Boston, Massachusetts, United States
• 2015–2019: Fellow, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Harvard Program in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Experience

• 2021–Present: Staff Neonatologist, SickKids, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2019–2020: Staff Neonatologist, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
• 2017–2020: Critical Care Transport Physician, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
• 2017–2020: Post-doctoral fellow in Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
• 2021–Present: Assistant Professor of Paediatrics and Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2019–2020: Instructor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Achievements

• 2020: Critical Care Transport Team Extra Mile Award, Boston Children’s Hospital
• 2016: Fellow Excellence in Teaching Award, Harvard Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program
• 2013: James Tolbert Shipley Prize for Excellence and Accomplishment in Research, Harvard Medical School 

1. Kalish BT*, Kim E*, Finander B, Duffy EE, Kim H, Gilman, Kim YS, Tong L, Kaufman RJ, Griffith EC, Choi GB, Greenberg ME, Huh JR. Maternal immune activation in mice disrupts proteostasis in the fetal brain. Nat Neurosci. 2020. 
2. Tong L, Kalish BT. The impact of maternal obesity on childhood neurodevelopment. J Perinatol. 2020 Nov 28. 
3. Kalish BT, Barkat T, Diel EE, Greenberg ME, Hensch Single-nucleus RNA sequencing of mouse auditory cortex reveals critical period triggers and brakes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 May 26;117(21):11744-11752. 
4. Kalish BT, Cheadle L, Hrvatin S, Nagy MA, Rivera S, Crow M, Gillis J, Kirchner R, Greenberg ME. Single-cell transcriptomics of the developing lateral geniculate nucleus reveals insights into circuit assembly and refinement. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Jan 30; 115(5): E1051-E1060.
5. Panigrahy D*, Kalish BT*, Huang S, Bielenberg DR, Le HD, Yang J, Edin ML, Lee C, Benny O, Mudge DK, Butterfield CE, Mammoto A, Mammoto T, Inceoglu B, Jenkins RL, Simpson MA, Akino T, Lih FB, Tomer KB, Ingber DE, Hammock BD, Falck JR, Manthati VL, Kaipainen A, D'Amore PA, et al. (28 authors). Epoxyeicosanoids promote organ and tissues regeneration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Aug 13; 110(33): 13528-33. *Equal Contribution