Meet The Team

Joley has been employed as a nurse at SickKids since 1999. She completed a nursing diploma (RN) in 1997, a nursing degree (BSN) in 2006, then completed a master’s in nursing (MN) degree and a Nurse Practitioner Specialty certification (PCNP) in 2010. Joley is passionate about education and has acted as a teacher/mentor to NP students through her Clinical Appointment at the Lawrence Bloomberg School of Nursing. Joley joined the Neurology Division in Feb 2016 where she developed and refined a new nurse practitioner role within the Neuroinflammatory Diseases Program. She recently completed a nursing mini-fellowship around the care and management of patients with multiple sclerosis. Joley is interested in the development of education initiatives for patients and families. She assisted in the organization of a patient education event and is presenting working on a research project to improve education for families around the new diagnoses of neuroinflammatory diseases.

Lauren is a pediatric neurologist, currently training as a clinical neuroinflammatory fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children. She completed her undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Western Ontario, masters degree in pediatric neuropsychology at UCL/Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), medical school at McMaster University and pediatric neurology residency at CHEO/University of Ottawa. Her specific interests include promoting equitable access to care for patients with M.S. and other neuroinflammatory diseases,  as well as assessing epilepsy/seizure outcomes in autoimmune encephalitis patients. In her spare time she enjoys yoga, outdoor activities, travelling, and spending time with her super cute nieces and nephews.

Samantha Stephens received her Masters of Science degree in Exercise Physiology from Ohio University and completed a Ph.D. in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Toronto. Over the past 15 years, she has been involved in developing and validating physical activity outcome measurement tools to determine activity levels of children with chronic conditions; identifying effective strategies and techniques for changing physical activity behaviours, and conducting clinical trials to study the effects of exercise regimens on walking ability, fitness and quality of life in children with Rheumatological conditions. As a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Yeh’s lab, Samantha has recently examined the long-term impacts of physical activity participation on symptoms of fatigue and depression in children with multiple sclerosis. In addition, she is helping to set up a program of research that will examine how sleep, physical activity and physical fitness impact disease activity and symptoms in children with demyelinating disorders. She has also started developing a mobile app and research platform to deliver a physical activity promotion program to help engage youth with demyelinating disorders in becoming more physically active.

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Carmen completed her BSc and MSc degrees in molecular microbiology at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include understanding how viral infections contribute to the development of autoimmune diseases. Her current research focuses on investigating the role of Epstein Barr virus (EBV) infection in the pathogenesis of pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis. In addition to her research activities, she is also involved in the management of the Neuroinflammatory Diseases Registry and biospecimen collection.

Tara Feltham is a clinical research coordinator working in the Pediatric Neuroinflammatory Disorders Program led by Dr. Ann Yeh. After completing her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2016, she joined the Neuroinflammatory Disease Program in 2018 as a research assistant and clinic coordinator. She then went on to explore the realm of research in paediatric oncology in the Genetics & Genome Biology Program at SickKids until 2023. She returned to Dr. Yeh’s team in early 2024 as a research coordinator when she realized that her true passion was in neurology research!

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Nurin completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours in Psychology) at McGill University followed by medical school at the University of Calgary. She then moved to Toronto and is completing her pediatric neurology residency. Her current research project is a retrospective chart review examining the outcomes of patients with Acute Necrotizing Encephalopathy of Childhood.

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