Keynote Speaker
Christine T. Chambers, PhD RPsych FRSC FCAHS
Dr. Christine Chambers is an international leader in children’s pain research and a national voice for children’s health. Twice named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network, Christine has published over 200 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and is recognized in the top 2% of the most cited scientists in the world. She is a Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Children’s Pain at Dalhousie University and faculty member in the Centre for Pediatric Pain Research at IWK Health Centre. Her acclaimed research program has helped establish Canada as a leader in children’s pain research, launching award-winning projects including #ItDoesntHaveToHurt and mentoring over 100 trainees. Christine is the Scientific Director of Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP), and the Scientific Director of the Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health (IHDCYH) at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
Clinical Practice Speakers
Dr Jehier Afifi is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Dalhousie University and Neonatologist at IWK Health and Nova Scotia Provincial Perinatal Follow Up Program. Dr Afifi holds leadership roles in safety & quality locally, nationally, and internationally. She is the Chair of EPIQ Education Program Steering Committee and Co-Director of CNFUN. She is also the QI lead of Newborn Brain Society QI & Research Committee, and member of Brain Health Canada, POCUSNEO and Neonatal Neurocritical Care Accreditation (AFC).
Her research area focuses on quality improvement, brain health, AI in risk prediction models and neurodevelopmental outcomes of high-risk infants, but extends to involve clinical interventions and family integrated care. Dr. Afifi’s clinical research and publications are interdisciplinary, collaborating with families, perinatology, neuroradiology, neurosurgery and geared both to contribute to the academic literature and to improve outcomes of newborn infants and parental experiences.
Dr. Belal Alshaikh trained in Newborn Critical Care at the University of Calgary and completed his Research Fellowship in Nutrition and Gastroenterology at the Children Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and University of Pennsylvania. In addition to his training in Newborn Critical care, Dr Alshaikh completed a master degree in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Calgary. He is currently a Staff Neonatologist and Medical Director of the NICU at South Health Campus in Calgary, and a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Calgary. Dr. Alshaikh Co-Chairs the Canadian Neonatal Gut Health of EPIQ and is a founder of the Society of the Neonatal Nutrition Gut and Growth. Dr. Alshaikh is a member of the Gastroenterology and Nutrition Committee of the Canadian Pediatric Society.
Dr Gabriel Altit completed his medical school at McGill University, followed by his Pediatric and Neonatology residencies at Université de Montréal. He pursued his training at McGill (Montreal Children’s Hospital [MUHC]) in echocardiography scanning. Following that, he did a post-doctoral research training in the pediatric ECHO laboratory at Stanford University. He completed an MSc in Epidemiology at McGill (2017-2020). He joined McGill University and the Montreal Children's Hospital as a Neonatologist in October 2017. Since his appointment as aclinician-scientist at the MUHC-RI, he has created the NeoCardioLab (www.neocardiolab.com).
In 2020, he launched the Neonatal Hemodynamics Clinical Research Fellowship at McGill, for which he is the program director, with ECHO techniques applied to research questions. Further, the NeoCardioLab application is now available on iPhone, iPad and Android. It offers numerous educational resources and is used by experts in the field daily, throughout the world.
Le Dr Gabriel Altit a complété ses études de médecine à l'Université McGill, suivies de ses résidences en pédiatrie et en néonatalogie à l'Université de Montréal. Il a poursuivi sa formation à McGill (Hôpital de Montréal pour enfants [CUSM]) en échocardiographie. Par la suite, il a effectué une formation de recherche postdoctorale au laboratoire pédiatrique ECHO de l’Université de Stanford. Il a complété une maîtrise en épidémiologie à McGill (2017-2020). Il a rejoint l'Université McGill et l'Hôpital de Montréal pour enfants en tant que néonatologiste en octobre 2017. Depuis sa nomination comme clinicien-chercheur à l'IR-CUSM, il a créé le NeoCardioLab (www.neocardiolab.com).
En 2020, il a lancé le fellow de recherche clinique en hémodynamie néonatale à McGill, dont il est directeur de programme. Son site web et application NeoCardioLab est désormais disponible sur IPhone, Ipad et Android. Il propose de nombreuses ressources pédagogiques et est utilisé quotidiennement par les experts du domaine, partout dans le monde.
Dr. Keith Barrington completed his medical training at the University of Liverpool in the UK before moving to Canada to take up a neonatal fellowship in Edmonton Alberta in 2008. Since then he has held several university posts and has served as Chair of the Fetus and Newborn Committee of the Canadian Pediatric Society and of the Society of Neonatologists of Quebec.
His research interests include apnea and respiratory control, cardiovascular adaptations and circulatory support, and ethical decision making. He has recently been investigating the development of the neonatal microbiome and the role of probiotics in preventing serious intestinal diseases.
Dr. Isabelle Boucoiran is Clinical Associate Professor at Université de Montréal (UdeM, Canada). She graduated at the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis (France) and completed a maternal-fetal medicine fellowship at UdeM and a fellowship in reproductive infectious diseases at the University of British-Columbia as well as a master’s degree in clinical research. She is a mid-career clinician-scientist at the School of Public Health of UdeM and the obstetrics and gynecology department of the CHU Sainte-Justine, where she is co-director of the Women and children Infectious Disease Centre (CIME). Her main area of research is the diagnosis, management, and prevention of infections in pregnancy, with a focus on HIV, CMV and chorioamnionitis/preterm prelabor membrane rupture.
Professor Linda S. Franck holds the Jack and Elaine Koehn Endowed Chair in Pediatric Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), School of Nursing, where she directs the ACTIONS fellowship program in reproductive health and justice. She holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and is an affiliate member of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. She also serves as the founding director of the Ronald McDonald House Charities Center at UCSF, established in 2022 with the aim of contributing new evidence and facilitating the implementation of pediatric family-centered care and family-centered services in all settings where children receive health care globally.
Dr. Amish Jain completed his medical education in India, pediatric residency in the UK and neonatal clinical fellowship in the University of Toronto before joining Mount Sinai Hospital as Staff Neonatologist in 2011; where he works as a staff neonatologist and clinician scientist at the Sinai Health System/Tanenbaum‐Lunenfeld Research Institute and as an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at the University of Toronto. He is also the site Director of the Targeted Neonatal Echocardiography Program in the NICU at Mount Sinai Hospital, which he co‐founded in the year 2011. During this time Dr. Jain also completed a PhD in Cardiovascular Physiology under the Department of Physiology at University of Toronto.
Dr. Jain’s specific research interests are in the field of critical care, neonatal cardio‐ pulmonary physiology and functional echocardiography, particularly in the assessment and management of pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular function in neonates. Dr. Jain currently holds the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) and SickKids Foundation’s (SKF) New Investigator Research Grant for the study of chronic pulmonary hypertension in preterm neonates as well as an Investigator Initiated Research Grant from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals for establishing a Canadian national database for preterm neonates exposed to inhaled nitric oxide during NICU stay. Over the last 6 years, Dr. Jain has established himself as a content expert, independent researcher and an emerging leader of national and international prominence in the field of neonatal cardio‐pulmonary physiology.
Dr. Thuy Mai Luu is a pediatrician and received her MD from McGill University (’01) and pediatric degree from Université de Montréal (’06). She then pursued her training at Brown University to gain clinical and research knowledge in developmental follow-up of high-risk newborns. Dr. Luu has also completed a master degree in epidemiology and biostatistics at McGill University. Currently, she is the medical director of CHU Sainte-Justine Neonatal Follow-Up Program in Montreal; the director of the Canadian Neonatal Follow-Up Network; and a senior clinical research scholar from the Quebec Health Research Funds.
Her research focuses on long-term neurodevelopmental and physical health outcomes following preterm birth, from infancy to adulthood, looking at risk and resiliency factors along with best screening strategies to enhance clinical follow-up.
Dr. Souvik Mitra is a staff Neonatologist at the BC Women’s Hospital, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia and Clinician-Scientist at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, Canada. He completed his fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine and MSc in Clinical Epidemiology from McMaster University and his PhD in Epidemiology and Applied Health Research from Dalhousie University. He is the Chair of the Fetus and Newborn Committee of the Canadian Pediatric Society, member of the Institute Advisory Board, Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health (IHDCYH) and the College of Reviewers, CIHR. He also serves as an Associate Editor for the Cochrane Neonatal Group.
His primary research interests revolve around improving patient and family-important clinical outcomes of extremely preterm babies. His current CIHR-funded research projects include a pan-Canadian study on the comparative effectiveness of NSAIDs for treatment of patent ductus arteriosus in extremely preterm infants and a multicenter RCT on selective early treatment of the PDA in extremely low gestational age infants.
Dr. Karel O’Brien is a Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto. She is a clinical teacher and neonatologist at a perinatal center that specializes in fetal diagnosis and therapy and also works in the follow up clinic. Dr. O'Brien has been instrumental in the development of Family Integrated Care (FICare), a model that changes how we deliver care to families in the NICU and led the International cRCT to assess its effectiveness. She has continued to grow this program of research and implementation, hosting International FICare conferences, developing a FICare website (familyintegratedcare.com) and collaborating in international FICare research.
Dr. Prakesh Shah is the Pediatrician-in-Chief at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto and Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, Canada. He has led the Canadian Neonatal network as Associate Director between 2010-12 and then was Director of CNN from 2012-2024. Currently, he is the Director of the Canadian Preterm Birth Network (CPTBN) and an International Network for Evaluation of Outcomes of Neonates (iNeo) whereby he oversees a project of benchmarking outcomes of very preterm neonates in 11 countries with population-level neonatal networks with an overarching aim of improving quality of care across 240 NICUs.
Dr. Shah’s areas of interest include Patient and Disease oriented research in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Health Services and Epidemiological Research in Maternal-Newborn care, Knowledge Synthesis and Quality improvement. He has evaluated and produced policy documents on interventions and programs for preterm birth for provincial and national agencies. He is engaged in policy and advocacy work with his role in executive committees and advisory board membership as local, provincial, national, and international levels.
Dr. Sandesh Shivananda is a neonatologist, health informatician and Quality lead at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. His focus is on identifying gaps in care delivery and implementing solutions in real-world setting to improve outcomes.
Dr. Shivananda has researched and published on (i) innovative care delivery models, (ii) clinical decision support products at the point of care, (iii) implementing care bundles and (iv) health technology integration in various neonatal settings. During his career, he has mentored many junior faculty members across Canada, fellows, and graduate students. He brings the knowledge and experience from the fields of neonatology, informatics, improvement science, organizational leadership, innovation, and team behaviors to facilitate excellence in care delivery, practice adaptation and implementation in a given contextual setting.
Dr. Joseph Ting is the endowed Variety, the Children's Charity and the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation Pediatric Clinical Research Professor at Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Care, Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta. He currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee and the Annual Report Review Committee of the Canadian Neonatal Network. He has been nominated as the Associate Director and Co-Chair of the Infection Prevention and Antimicrobial Stewardship Group within the Evidence-Based Practice for Improving Quality (EPIQ) initiative.
His primary areas of research interest include (1) neonatal infection and antimicrobial stewardship, (2) neonatal hemodynamics and Targeted Neonatal Echocardiography, and (3) long-term health outcomes for at-risk infants. Throughout his clinical and research career, he has maintained a prolific research output, contributing to over 140 peer-reviewed publications and three book chapters. Over the next decade, his goal is to improve newborn care in Canada and around the world through clinical research, education, and advocacy.
Ms. Fabiana Bacchini is the Executive Director of the Canadian Premature Babies Foundation. She is a journalist and the published author of From Surviving to Thriving, a Mother’s Journey Through Infertility, Loss and Miracles. While in the NICU with her surviving twin born extremely preterm, she participated in the study of Family Integrated Care (FiCare). This led her to extensive volunteering in the NICU at Mount Sinai Hospital and to become an ambassador for FiCare, travelling across Canada and internationally to share her experience with this model of care. Her son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which continued to empower her to be a strong voice and advocate for premature babies and their families. She is dedicated to form connections with researchers to ensure that the viewpoints of parents are integrated into their studies. To this end, she has engaged in collaborations with numerous researchers, both in Canada and around the world, in various capacities.
Ashley Durance was born and raised in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. She became a mother in 2016 to her 23 weeker, Hazel and after 175 days in the NICU at Royal Columbian she realized the power of a positive NICU experience and FICare, which inspired her to continue advocating for parents and preemies. Working in the aviation field she slowly became involved in speaking engagements and a QI project with the jet ventilator and skin to skin alongside the RT department by sharing her lived experience. After two cancer diagnoses in 2020 she left the world of aviation and became a published author of an inclusive children’s book, The Adventures of Mabel Mouse. Ashley resides in Chilliwack, BC with her husband and daughter and is now a Parent + Family Navigator with the NICU at Royal Columbian Hospital.
Meredith Harrison is a parent partner on The Ottawa Hospital's Extremely Low Gestational Age (ELGA) working group for babies born under 28 weeks. She lives in Ottawa, ON with her husband and two young children, both of whom were born prematurely.
Priyanka Kumar is currently a senior manager at MNP in Canada working in the National Tax Group. She completed her masters in tax law at HEC and has over 10 years of experience in accounting and tax services. She is a proud mother to Massimo Kumar Lucifero who was born prematurely in December 2020 weighing at 700 grams. After three challenging years of being followed by several departments, numerous medications and several procedures, Massimo is looking well and enjoying life as a toddler. Now, Priyanka and Massimo’s weekends consist of baking together, reading books and enjoying visits to the park. Priyanka also enjoys self-care time which include training for a half marathon and reading thrillers
Anthony Lucifero is the father of Massimo Kumar Lucifero. Who was born at the gestational age of 24 weeks and 5 days, weighing 700 grams on December 29, 2020 at 3:00 AM at the Lakeshore General Hospital in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Canada. Massimo was immediately transported to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Montreal Children’s Hospital where he would spend the next six months. After undergoing numerous procedures including a balloon dilation and inserting a gastrostomy tube, Massimo was finally discharged on June 21, 2021. On September 28, 2021 during a follow up echocardiogram it was discovered that Massimo suffered from severe pulmonary hypertension. A subsequent cardiac catheterization confirmed this conclusion. After a six week admission to the Montreal Children’s Hospital Massimo was discharged. The medication required to treat Massimo’s pulmonary hypertension was Sildenafil, Bosentan and Remodulin. After numerous follow up echocardiograms Massimo was fully weaned off all the medication in December 2022.
Miroslav Stavel is a dedicated healthcare professional, and has been a valued member of Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) for 8 years, specializing in Neonatology and Pediatrics and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). His recent election as the local department head reflects his exceptional commitment and diverse medical training. Dr. Stavel excels in forging enduring bonds with patients and families, fostering unity and shared purpose.
Leah Whitehead is a Communications Specialist and dedicated NICU mom advocate, focused on transforming the healthcare experience through her lived insights and professional expertise. Over 11 years, she co-founded and developed the IWK NICU Parent Partner Program, a sustainable model that bridges families and healthcare providers. Leah guides healthcare professionals and families on language, peer support, and collaborative care; promoting a compassionate and family-centered approach. She also co-owns a First Aid, Safety, and Psychological
Safety Training business, helping organizations foster safer and more supportive environments centered on both physical and mental well-being. Leah's influence extends to national neonatal research initiatives, with her collaborative work published in journals like Archives of Disease in Childhood and Journal of Family Nursing. Through her expertise and heart-led advocacy, Leah is dedicated to creating positive, lasting change in healthcare for providers and families alike.
Mr. Tom Wiebe is a father to a teenager who spent 118 days in the NICU as an infant. He has since returned to the Neonatal Program at BC Women’s Hospital since 2018 as a Patient and Family Engagement Advisor. Mr. Wiebe lives in a tiny box in the sky by the sea in downtown Vancouver with his most wonderful wife, their son, and far too many books