Our Team
We are a large interdisciplinary team working across provinces to provide care and services for children with SNI and PIUO, while collecting data to uncover how families with similar experiences may be best helped in the future. We believe the right approach to managing pain and irritability is multifaceted and requires involvement from various caretaker roles. Every team member is important in carrying out our research and fulfilling our goals.
Families who participate in PIUO studies will come to know our team members well as they build relationships throughout study participation. Learn more about the credentials and passions of our lead investigators below, and meet our collaborators from across the country helping to drive our research forward.
Lead Investigators
Hal Siden
Location
Dr. Siden is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia. He is also the Medical Director for Canuck Place Children's Hospice, and Medical Director, Palliative Medicine at BC Children’s Hospital, both located in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Expertise
Dr. Siden has expertise in pediatric palliative care and pain management. He has worked for 20 years with children living with complex conditions and life-threatening diseases. Many of the children Dr. Siden sees battle uncomfortable and painful symptoms as a result of their condition, some of them difficult to explain.
Interest in Pain Management
Dr. Siden has a particular interest in pain assessment and pain management. Pain is not well understood in children who are cognitively normal, and is very poorly understood in children with neurological conditions; finding new treatments and tools for assessing pain is therefore important. Apart from testing the feasibility of the PIUO Pathway, Dr. Siden is interested in new and emerging treatments for pain, and in biological markers of pain in children.
Stephanie Glegg
(Co-Principal Investigator)
E-mail: stephanie.glegg@ubc.ca
Location
Dr. Glegg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, and an Associate Member of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is an Investigator at BC Children’s Hospital, and co-leads the Knowledge Mobilization Program for the CHILD-BRIGHT Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (POR) Network, a research network focused on brain-based disabilities.
Expertise
Dr. Glegg has expertise in neurodevelopmental disabilities as a pediatric occupational therapist. She worked for 18 years with children with a range of diagnoses at Sunny Hill Health Centre at BC Children’s Hospital. She also brings lived experience as a parent.
Interest in Implementation Science
Dr. Glegg has a particular interest in implementation science – the study of the factors that support or hinder the uptake of evidence-informed innovations, and the best ways to facilitate positive changes to the health care system. This research field uses theory and evidence, including lived experience, to tailor implementation strategies for different contexts. Testing these strategies in different settings helps us determine what works best, when, and with whom.
Sharon Hou
(Co-Investigator)
Email: Sharon.Hou@bcchr.ca
Co-Investigators
Tim Oberlander
Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia
BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute
Caroline Saunders
Department of Nursing, University of Northern British Columbia
Gail Andrews
BC Children’s Research Insititute
Laesa Kim
Parent Partner, BC Children’s Research Institute
Collaborators
Bruce Carleton
Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia
BC Children’s Research Institute
Eyal Cohen
Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto
Complex Care, Hospital for Sick Children
Tammie Dewan
Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary
Alberta Children’s Hospital
Dean Elbe
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia
Vithya Gnanakumar
Departments of Clinical Neurosciences and Pediatrics, University of Calgary
Alberta Children’s Hospital
Julie Hauer
Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
General Pediatrics, Palliative Care, Complex Care, Boston Children’s Hospital
Liisa Holsti
Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia
BC Children’s Research Institute
Julia Orkin
Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto
Complex Care, Hospital for Sick Children
Scott Schwantes
Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota
Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare
Joel Singer
School of Population and Public Health
University of British Columbia
Jen Stinson
University of Toronto
Chronic Pain Program, Hospital for Sick Children
Christina Vadeboncoeur
Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa
Palliative Care, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario