A first-of-its-kind collaboration between Children Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and Shriners Hospitals for Children Canada (SHC) will allow children living with rare bone diseases to see a single expert instead of travelling to clinics at multiple hospitals.
The joint pediatric metabolic and genetic bone disorders fellowship will advance pediatric bone health care and research in rare bone diseases, said the CHEO Research Institute in a news release Friday.
“This first-of-its-kind fellowship is the perfect example of transformative collaboration in action. Together, we are building the future of pediatric care in rare bone disorders by training the next generation of clinician-scientists,” said Dr. Jason Berman, CEO and scientific director of CHEO Research Institute, and VP of research at CHEO.
Patient says seeing all the evolutions taking place ‘fantastic’
Ryan Nicholas lives with Osteogenesis Imperfect (OI), which is a genetic bone disorder, known as brittle bone disease. A child born with OI may have soft bones that easily break or get fractured.
His daughter Ella Mae Nicholas was also diagnosed with severe-moderate OI Type 4 at birth. The four-year-old has been followed by Dr. Ward since birth, and will be benefiting from the collaboration, that’s bringing the expertise of both Dr. Rauch to the table, reads the release.
Ryan says seeing all the evolutions in research and care through the care his daughter receives is “fantastic.”
“My bones stopped breaking around the age of 18. In that 20-year span until we had Ella Mae, there has been so much study and advancements in the treatment of OI, it’s absolutely mind blowing. I never had any of that as a kid. It’s like being alive for the development of the radio and then being able to see the internet happen. Seeing all the evolutions, you’re taken back by it all, and it’s fantastic,” said Ryan.
Here’s how the fellowship works:
Fellows will work in each hospital for two years, “developing physicians with expertise in both endocrinology and genetics,” according to the institute.
“Fellows will split their time between CHEO in Ottawa, and the SHC Canada facility in Montreal, Que., gaining experience in both a specialized pediatric orthopedic setting and a more general pediatric hospital environment. This will allow the fellows to see a wider variety of cases and develop a broad skill set that blends both metabolic bone disease expertise, genetics and research, ‘ reads the release.
The first of the two-year fellowship will take place at CHEO, where the team, led by Dr. Leanne Ward,” will see children and youth with rare bone disease and take part in “cutting-edge research.”
“Mentoring and training the next generation of leaders in pediatric bone health clinical care and research is critical to ensure our unique field of expertise continues to grow so that the kids of today and tomorrow receive the best care possible. It’s through the sharing of combined knowledge and experience across multiple disciplines that we can better train future clinician-scientists to lead the way in exemplary patient care and scientific discovery,” said Dr. Ward, pediatric endocrinologist and scientific director of The Ottawa Pediatric Bone Health Research Group at the CHEO Research Institute, who holds a Tier 1 Research Chair in Pediatric Bone Disorders at the University of Ottawa.
In the second year, the fellowship will take place at the SHC Canada facility, which is located in Montreal, Que. It will be led by under the leadership of Dr. Frank Rauch. The Montreal’s facility will be welcoming children with genetic bone diseases from across North America, while focusing on the research.
“The fellowship will help shape the future of care for bone diseases in children by ensuring that fellows receive the most comprehensive, multidisciplinary training available, and by extension our patients receive the best care anywhere,” said Dr. Rauch, pediatrician and director of the Clinical Biomedical Laboratory at Shriners Hospitals for Children Canada.
The first four years of this fellowship program have been funded by Shriners Hospitals for Children Canada via Tunis Shriners of Ottawa.
Medical Doctors who have completed their pediatric, pediatric endocrinology, or medical genetics training and wish to specialize in pediatric bone diseases can participate in the fellowship. Their applications are processed through McGill University’s Postgraduate Medical Education Office for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Canada portion, and through Dr. Ward at CHEO for the Ottawa-based component.
For information about the collaboration, visit McGill PGME and contact pgcoordinator.med@mcgill.ca.
More to come