Christopher Parshuram

Senior Scientist
Child Health Evaluative Sciences

Dr. Parshuram graduated from Otago University of New Zealand in 1990, with prizes in medicine and pharmacology. Following a residency in Paediatrics at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, he moved to Canada where he completed specialist fellowship training in Paediatric Critical Care Medicine and clinical Pharmacology. He completed his doctorate in Clinical Epidemiology in 2005, on the subject of patient safety.

Dr. Parshuram was appointed as a staff physician in the Department of Critical Care Medicine in The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in 2003, and is a senior scientist in Child Health Evaluation Sciences in the Research Institute. In addition to formal training in systems of healthcare delivery, Dr. Parshuram has expertise in cardiac arrest prevention, medication safety, and fatigue in healthcare professionals. He has received over CAD$9M in peer-reviewed research funding from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Research

Dr. Parshuram is a Safety Scientist, with interest in the identification of significant clinical problems (medication safety, precision of pharmacotherapy, healthcare provider fatigue, cardiac arrest), their quantification, the design and development of system-level interventions, and the evaluation of these interventions (including BedsidePEWS, drug therapy, alternate physician schedules) as methods to improve patient outcomes.

He leads three research programs in the domains of Resuscitation, Pharmacotherapy and Resident Fatigue for which he has received 2 career awards. In the past 5 years he has been awarded $5 million dollars in operational funding as Principal Investigator, and has been a co-investigator in projects receiving $1·3 million operational funding. As well, his students have received salary awards from sources including the CIHR.

Dr. Parshuram’s research programs have resulted in innovation, invention, development of education programs, and resulted in practice change. His related expertise in resuscitation and resident duty hours has provided opportunities that impact health policy and practice. Change is evident in hospitals across Canada, and around the world.

Education and experience

• 2019: Interim Division Head, PICU, Department of Critical Care Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2015–Present: Professor, Interdepartmental Division of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation; Department of Paediatrics, & Critical Care Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2011–Present: Senior Scientist, SickKids Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2010–2012: Interim Head, Child Health Evaluative Sciences (CHES), SickKids Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2009–2015: Associate Professor, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
• 2006–2011: Scientist, SickKids Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2004–2006: Scientist-Track Investigator, SickKids Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2003–Present: Staff Physician, PICU, Department of Critical Care Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2003–2009: Assistant Professor, Department of Paedatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2001–2005: Doctorate, Clinical Epidemiology (Supervised by A Laupacis, GR Baker) University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2000–2001: Chief Fellow, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 1999–2003: Clinical Research Fellow, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 1998–1999: Clinical Fellow, University of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton, AB, Canada
• 1991–1998: Clinical Trainee, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• 1984–1990: Doctorate, Medical Degree – MBChB, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Patents

Bedside Paediatric Early Warning System (Bedside PEWS)
Patent Status: Granted/Issued
Year Issued: 2013

See a full list of Chris Parshuram's publications.