Current Trainees

Costanza Di Chiara is a paediatrician with expertise in the field of Infectious Diseases. She is a PhD candidate in the Division of Paediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Padova in Italy, attending a research fellowship at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto. Viral infections are her research interest area, and since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has been focusing on epidemiological, clinical and immunological features of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination in children.

Robyn Elphinstone is a paediatric infectious diseases physician. She did the combined MD/PhD Program through the University of Toronto. Robyn completed her PhD under the supervision of Dr. Kevin Kain looking at the host response to severe malaria. She is currently a post-doctoral research fellow looking at a novel biomarker for the diagnosis of bacterial meningitis in neonates and young infants. Her other research interests including host pathogen interactions, endothelial dysfunction, CNS infections and neonatal outcomes.

Francesca Piacentini is a paediatric resident (5th year) at Meyer Children’s Hospital, University of Florence (Italy), and currently a research fellow at the Centre for Global Child Health, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto. She is focusing her training on Paediatric Infectious Diseases, working at the intersection of clinical paediatrics and global health, with hands-on clinical experience in resource-limited settings in Uganda. Her research interests focus on tuberculosis, tropical infectious diseases, and the health of migrant and refugee children.