Thank you to everyone who helped make

SickKids Rare Disease Day 2026 a success!

Looking forward to next year!

Keynote

Wojcik_Monica headshot (1)

Monica Wojcik, MD, MPH

Medical Director, Manton Center Gene Discovery Core;
Newborn Medicine Medical Director
Fetal Care and Surgery Center;
Attending Physician, Divisions of Newborn Medicine & Genetics and Genomics;
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

Spotlight Speaker

T Lewis_2024 Headshot

Tamorah Lewis, MD, PhD

Staff Physician, Division of Neonatology
Senior Associate Scientist,
Translational Medicine, SickKids

Spotlight Speaker

LenaDolman

Lena Dolman, MD, M.Sc.

PGY-4 Pediatrics Resident,
University of Toronto
Incoming CanGARD Fellow, Advanced Genomics in Paediatric Rare Disease (May 2026)

Family Experience

Poster Presentation Winners

Research Category

Winner

NBK_1721-scaled-e1782936420475

Proof-of-concept base editing corrects a pathogenic non-coding splice varieant in congenital muscular dystrophy

Ryan Marks
Graduate Student – PhD Candidate
Cohn / Ivakine Labs

Runner Up

Modelling Argonaute Syndromes associated variants in C. elegans

Ellanore Rughani
Graduate Student – M.Sc. Candidate
Claycomb Lab

Clinical / Translational Category

Winners (2 way tie)

LoganNewtonHeadshot

Streamlining Exon-Skipping Artisense Oligonucleotide Therapy Development Via a High-Throughput Approach

Logan Newton
Graduate Student – PhD Candidate
Costain / Deshwar Labs

NetaPipkof

Detection of ATAD3 Duplication in a Highly Homologous Genomic Locus by Combined Short – and Long-read DNA/RNA Sequencing

Neta Pipko, MHSc

Research Genome Analyst

Marshall Lab

Rare Disease Day Trainee Speakers

C'airahCeolin320

Disruption of the Mediator Complex Subunit MED8 causes congenital malformations in humans

​C’airah Ceolin

Graduate Student – PhD Candidate

Deshwar Lab

Development, Stem Cell & Cancer Biology / Genetics & Genome Biology, SIckKids​

Winner

Carmela320

Pooled CRISPR-Prime Editing enables High-Resolution Mapping of TAFAZZIN Variant Function

​Carmela Serio Carrero

Graduate Student – PhD Candidate

Moffat Lab

Genetics & Genome Biology, SIckKids​

NickieSafarian320

Rare variants in small nuclear RNA genes reveal a Splicing-related Gnetic mechanism in autism spectrum disorder

​Nickie Safarian, PhD

Research Fellow

B. Trost Lab

Molecular Medicine / Genetics & Genome Biology, SIckKids​

A big THANK YOU to our sponsors