The Scientific Advisory Board provides strategic insight into BC Children's Hospital Research Institute's scientific direction.
The Scientific Advisory Board provides consultation and advice to the Research Institute's Executive Director with the objective of sustaining and strengthening child health research nationally and internationally and its translation to achieve benefits to children and families.
Members
Dr. Astrid Guttmann, MSc, MDCM, FRCPC
Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation + Professor, Epidemiology Division, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Co-Director, Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children, University of Toronto
General Paediatrician and Senior Scientist, Hospital for Sick Children
Senior Scientist and Chief Science Officer, ICES
Dr. Astrid Guttmann's research aims to improve inequities in child health through population-based studies that inform or evaluate health and mental health system programs and policies. She has held three salary awards including a research chair from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research in Reproductive, Child and Youth Health Services and Policy Research. Current grant funded work includes a large-scale evaluation of Canadian refugee resettlement models assessing long-term refugee health and social outcomes, and work with Southern Ontario First Nations around prenatal opioid use. Dr. Guttmann co-leads MHASEF, a government funded data and research initiative at ICES, which has built capacity to report on and evaluate the Ontario Mental Health and Addictions Strategy and related programs. She sits on several scientific and policy advisory committees, including the UCL Great Ormond Street Hospital Institute of Child Health’s International External Advisory Board, and the Ontario Provincial Council for Maternal and Child Health.
Dr. Lauren Kelly, MSc, PhD, CCRP
Associate Professor, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba
Clinical Trials Director and Scientist, Research Support Unit, Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba
Scientific Director, Canadian Collaborative for Childhood Cannabinoid Therapeutics
Director, Increasing Capacity for Maternal and Paediatric Clinical Trials
Dr. Lauren Kelly, Associate Professor in Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, is a distinguished figure in maternal and pediatric health. Aside from academia, Dr. Kelly is a Certified Clinical Research Professional and holds several leadership positions, including Scientific Director of the Canadian Collaborative for Childhood Cannabinoid Therapeutics, Clinical Trialist at the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation, and Director of Increasing capacity for Maternal and Paediatric Clinical Trials (IMPaCT).
In her role as Clinical Trials Director and Scientist at the Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, Dr. Kelly leads impactful studies focused on safe pharmacotherapy for children, particularly exploring the effects of opioid exposure during pregnancy and the medical use of cannabis in children and adolescents. With more than 60 publications and $7 million in funding, Dr. Kelly's outstanding work is also recognized with several prestigious awards, including the SickKids-CIHR and Research Manitoba New Investigator Award.
Dr. Pat Levitt, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer, Vice President and Director, The Saban Research Institute, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA)
Simms/Mann Chair, Developmental Neurogenetics, CHLA
W. M. Keck Provost Professor, Neurogenetics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
Dr. Pat Levitt is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. He is a senior fellow at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, and serves as Co-Scientific Director of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child — a policy council that assists policymakers, service providers, and business leaders in making investments in child brain and physical health programs. Dr. Levitt has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health and numerous private foundations since 1982. His basic and clinical research focuses on identifying the factors that assure healthy development of brain architecture involved in learning, emotional behaviour, and social behaviour. Specific projects address how toxic stress responses in human infants and toddlers may be detected very early in order to develop best practices for promoting resilience and better prevention and intervention. He also engages families in research who have an autistic child and co-occurring medical conditions (e.g., gastrointestinal disorders). He has published over 300 scientific papers and has served on the editorial boards of 10 scientific journals, including his current role as editor-in-chief of Mind, Brain, and Education.
Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed, MSc, MD, CCFP, FRCPC, LLD (hc), DSC (hc)
Associate Dean, Serving and Engaging Society, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University
Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed is a public health physician, leader, and advocate committed to advancing health equity in diverse communities. She previously served as the Medical Officer of Health for the Halifax area and Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health for Nova Scotia. In 2021, Dr. Watson-Creed stepped down from this role to focus on her work as the Associate Dean of the Serving and Engaging Society at Dalhousie University's Faculty of Medicine. Beyond her academic pursuits, Dr. Watson-Creed has served on several national population health councils and boards and is the current Chair of the Advisory Board for the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health.
Her outstanding work has been recognized with several awards, including the Nova Scotia Public Health Champion Award, the William Grigor Award for achievement in medicine from Doctors Nova Scotia, and the President's Award from Public Health Physicians of Canada. In 2019, Dr. Watson-Creed was named one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada by the Women's Executive Network. She is the holder of honorary doctorates from both Acadia University and University of Prince Edward Island, in recognition of her many contributions to public and population health.
