Dr. Andrea Knight
Dr. Andrea Knight is a Paediatric Rheumatologist and Clinician-Investigator in the Division of Rheumatology, and an Associate Scientist in the Neurosciences and Mental Health Program at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada. She is also an Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Paediatrics in the Associated Faculty of the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. She obtained her medical degree from the Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York. She then completed her Paediatric Residency and Paediatric Rheumatology Fellowship at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Knight’s research program seeks to understand the impact of neuropsychiatric morbidity on outcomes for children and youth with rheumatologic disease. She is currently conducting translational research to understand the impact of childhood-onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (cSLE) on brain health and development, utilizing neuroimaging, cognitive, and blood biomarkers to characterize the mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric dysfunction. The goal is to develop and test systematic approaches utilizing multi-level biomarkers for early detection and targeted, individualized treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders in SLE. She is also developing and testing strategies to improve assessment and intervention for psychiatric morbidity, such as tailored cognitive behavioral therapy, to optimize outcomes for children and youth with rheumatologic conditions.
Dr. Knight is also leading several international research efforts in paediatric lupus and rheumatology. She is the current Chair of the Lupus Section for the Childhood Arthritis & Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA), and Co-leader of the CARRA Mental Health Workgroup. She is the Co-PI on a CDC-funded award to examine epidemiology and outcomes in the CARRA lupus registry cohort. She also recently served as an appointed member on the Committee for the Assessment of National Institutes of Health Research on Autoimmune Diseases (2020–2022) at the United States National Academy of Science in the department of Engineering and Medicine.
Dr. Knight’s work has been recognized by an awarded Chair for the Canada Research Tier 2 for Mental Health in Childhood Chronic Disease at the Canada Institute of Health Research. She is also the recipient of the Lupus Research Alliance Career Development Award to Promote Diversity in Lupus Research, the Lupus Foundation of America Mary Betty Stevens MD Young Investigator Prize, and the Edmond L Dubois Memorial Lectureship and Investigator Award from the Rheumatology Research Foundation.