PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR & STAFF NEUROLOGIST
Dr. Ann Yeh is a graduate of Harvard University, received an MA from McGill University (Montreal, Canada), and her MD at McMaster University (Hamilton, ON). She completed paediatrics training at McMaster University and pediatric neurology training at SUNY Buffalo. She is currently an Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Neurology) and Associate Scientist (SickKids Research Institute, Neurosciences and Mental Health) at the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Canada, where she is the director of the MS and Neuroinflammatory Disorders Centre and served as director of the pediatric neurology training program (2012-2017). She has authored over 100 papers and book chapters focused on pediatric MS and neuroinflammatory disorders, and has specific research interests in visual and psychosocial outcomes in pediatric MS and neuroinflammatory disorders, and wellness, physical activity and lifestyle in pediatric MS and other neuroinflammatory disorders.
STAFF NEUROLOGIST
Dr. Giulia Longoni recently joined SickKids as an Assistant Professor of Paediatrics (Neurology) and a Scientist-Track Investigator with the SickKids Research Institute, Neurosciences & Mental Health Program. Giulia received her M.D. from The Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in 2008. Her clinical focus is in the care of children living with multiple sclerosis and other inflammatory brain disorders. Her research focuses on combining innovative image acquisition and analysis approaches with clinical and biological markers, to investigate mechanisms underlying disease onset and progression in pediatric patients with these conditions.
CLINICAL FELLOW
Dr. Daniella Castillo Villagran is a Neurologist currently training as a clinical and research fellow at The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto (Toronto, ON). She finished her Medical School at University of Antofagasta in and her Pediatric Neurology Residency at the University of Chile.
CLINICAL FELLOW
Dr. Areej Mahjoub received her medical degree from Maastricht University in her Netherlands in 2013. Following that she completed five years of pediatric neurology residency training at the University of Toronto. Recently she joined us to start her fellowship in Ms and Neuroinflammation. She has a special interest in education and teaching resources along with quality improvements in healthcare. In her free time she loves to go to the beach an
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW
Paul Yoo is an occupational therapist by training and a postdoctoral fellow working in the Pediatric Neuroinflammatory Disorders Program led by Dr. Ann Yeh. He joined SickKids in the Summer of 2022 after completing his PhD in Rehabilitation Science at McGill University, Montreal, where he developed the Child Community Health Inclusion Index (CHILD-CHII). His research focuses on lifestyle outcomes and environmental/contextual factors that can improve health outcomes in children with Multiple Sclerosis and other disabilities/chronic illnesses. He is an amateur coffee enthusiast, avid injured runner, and a commuting bookworm
CLINICAL FELLOW
Dr. Rabporn Suntornlohanakul is a pediatric neurologist, currently training as a clinical fellow in neuroinflammatory program at The Hospital for Sick Children, She recevied her medical degree from King Chulalongkorn University in 2015. She completed three years of Pediatric resident training program in 2019 and 2 years of Pediatric neurology fellowship at KCMH in 2021. Currently, She’s a clinical instructor at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society.
NURSE PRACTITIONER
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.
CLINIC NURSE
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POSTDOCTORATE FELLOW
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.
CLINIC COORDINATOR/ CLINICAL RESEARCH PROJECT COORDINATOR
To be Updated
RESEARCH TECHNOLOGIST II
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.
CLINIC COORDINATOR/CLINICAL RESEARCH PROJECT COORDINATOR
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!
CLINICAL RESEARCH PROJECT COORDINATOR
Rachel completed her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Toronto with a double major in Biology and Zoology and her Master of Science at McMaster University specializing in Neuroscience. She is interested in studying the effects of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions such as physical activities on pediatric MS. Outside of the lab, she loves food and travelling..
GRADUATE STUDENT, MSC CANDIDATE
Riyeon (Laura) Kim had completed her undergraduate degree (Honours Life Sciences) at Queen’s University. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree at the University of Toronto Institute of Medical Science. Her project is “Evaluating relationships between structural and functional visual pathway abnormalities in youth with demyelination: Visual evoked cortical magnetic responses and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT)”. She hopes to provide clear information on outcome metrics that can be used in clinical trials targeting the visual system in demyelinating disorders. It will set the stage for a future planned trial of neuroprotection in youth with demyelinating insults to the optic nerve. She also plans to collaborate with the field of health services and policy.
PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGY RESIDENT
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.
RESEARCH STUDENT
To be updated.
PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGY RESIDENT
Mohammed is a resident physician at the Hospital for Sick Children pursuing his training in the field of child neurology. He obtained his Medical degree from IAU, Saudi Arabia in 2017. Mohammed has a keen interest in the growing field of epilepsy and is currently working on a research project that intends to understand the relation between Neuro-inflammatory disorders and drug-resistant epilepsy.
PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGY RESIDENT
Lindsey is a paediatric neurology resident at SickKids. She grew up in Calgary and completed her BScH in Life Sciences at Queen’s University. She then went to back Calgary to complete an MSc in Kinesiology (specializing in rehabilitation) as well as her MD. So far, Lindsey has been examining self-reported mental health, physical activity, and sleep for youth with neuroinflammatory disorders. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the ravines and running trails scattered throughout Toronto and also finding new places to grab an ice cream.
GRADUATE STUDENT, MSc CANDIDATE
Sonika completed a BSc in specialized psychology from York University. Her undergraduate thesis focused on understanding the relationship between epilepsy, episodic memory and depressive mood. She is currently working on her MSc degree in the Institute of Medical Sciences at The University of Toronto. In her graduate research, Sonika is working on understanding the various barriers and facilitators of physical activity among youth with multiple sclerosis.
RESEARCH FELLOW
To be Updated
DATA ANALYST
To be updated.
CLINICAL RESEARCH PROJECT COORDINATOR
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CLINICAL RESEARCH PROJECT COORDINATOR
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PREVIOUS TEAM MEMBERS
Hareem Ilyas
Clinical Research Project Coordinator (2022-2023)
Shamashtika Thilagaratnam
Clinical Research Project Coordinator (2021-2022)
Jihan Madani, MD
Clinical Research Fellow (2020-2022)
Abar Hudairi, MD
Clinical Fellow (2021-2023)
Tory O’Driscoll
Summer Research Student (2017-2018)
Colin Wilbur, MD
Clinical Research Fellow (2016-2018)
Deepti Khopkar
Clinical Research Project Assistant/Patient Information Coordinator (2018)
Neda Ebrahimi, PhD
Clinical Research Project Coordinator (2017-2019)
Stephanie Grover
Clinical Research Project Manager (2013-2019)
Fahad Albassam
Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-2019)
Effie Viguiliouk
Clinical Research Project Coordinator (2019)
Zehra Kamani
Clinical Research Project Coordinator (2019)
Nilasha Thayalan
Summer Research Student (2019)
Manish Dev Angrish
Summer Co-op Student (2021)
Mina Ly
Clinical Research Project Coordinator (2020-2022)
Kinga Szymczyk
Patient Information Coordinator (2022-2022)
Renisha Iruthayanathan
Clinical Research Project Assistant (2017-2019)
Nathan Best
Clinical Research Project Assistant (2022-2023)
Austin Noguera
Clinical Research Project Coordinator
Lauren Sham
Pediatric Neurology Resident
Michelle Jaeggi
Pediatric Neurology Resident
Daniah Kurdi
Pediatric Neurology Resident
Thiago Hissa
Research Student (2019-2021)
Dr. Leyila Kaseka, MD
Fellow
Tara Berenbaum
Clinical Research Project Coordinator (2014-2021)
Hanifa Hasan
Summer Research Student (2021)
Jennifer Boyd, RN
Clinical Nurse Specialist
Lynn MacMillan, RN
Neuroscience & MS Nurse
Jaimie Hogan
Clinical Research Project Coordinator