Agostino Pierro, OBE, MD, FRCS (Engl), FRCS (Ed), FAAP
Division of General and Thoracic Surgery – The Hospital for Sick Children
Senior Associate Scientist – Translational Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children
Professor, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine – University of Toronto
Professor, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine – University of Toronto
Full Faculty Member, Institute of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine – University of Toronto
Editor-in-Chief – Pediatric Surgery International (PSI)
Chairman – Research Committee of the American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA)
Chairman – Evidence and Guidelines Committee of the European Paediatric Surgeons’ Association (EUPSA)
Dr. Pierro joined SickKids in May 2013, from Great Ormond Street Hospital in the UK, where he was Nuffield Professor of Paediatric Surgery and Head of Surgery at the University College London Institute of Child Health.
With over 450 publications including peer-reviewed articles, books, and book chapters, Dr.Pierro is an internationally recognized pediatric surgeon. His vision is to improve the health outcomes of infants with various clinical problems that require surgery, including necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). He has always focused on research that maintains strong translational potential. To accomplish this, he leads a large research laboratory with activities that span from pre-clinical research to clinical trials. His unique expertise and innovative approaches improved clinical care of various diseases, bringing together a multidisciplinary team of experts not only in Toronto but also nationally and internationally. His research has been continuously funded by competitive peer review grants including a CIHR Foundation Grant.
His clinical interests and expertise are neonatal, pancreatic, minimally invasive, and neuroblastoma surgery. He is Editor-in Chief of the Paediatric Surgery International. In recognition of clinical and research activities, Dr.Pierro has been privileged to be appointed honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE). This Honour has been conferred in 2016 by Her Majesty The queen “in recognition of Dr. Pierro`s services to medicine and charity”. In Septembr 2021, Dr.Pierro was the recipient of the 2021 Rehbein Medal by the European Paediatric Surgeons`s Association (EUPSA), the largest Paediatric Surgical Association worldwide, in recognition of “outstanding achievements in Paediatric Surgery, and for significant contribution to the progress and international acknowledgment of the field”.
Current Members
Carol Lee, MSc
Lab Manager
Peter Bo Li, PhD
Research Associate
Dorothy Lee, PhD Candidate
Graduate Student
Niloofar Ganji, MSc, PhD Candidate
Graduate Student
George Biouss, PhD Candidate
Research fellow
Mina Yeganeh, MSc Candidate
Graduate Student
Andrea Zito, MSc Candidate
Graduate Student
Felicia Balsamo, MSc Candidate
Graduate Student
Jielin Yang
Lab Technologist
Stella Sabbatini, MD
Clinical Research Fellow
Masahiro Shimizu, MD
Research Fellow
Past Members
Research Fellows
Dr. Augusto Zani
Dr. Eduardo Bindi
Dr. Elle Zani-Ruttenstock
Dr. Eunyoung Jung
Dr. Haitao Zhu
Dr. Helen Hyun-young Kim
Dr. Hiromu Miyake
Dr. Joshua O’Connell
Dr. Maarten Janssen Lok
Dr. Masaya Yamoto
Dr. Mashriq Alganabi
Dr. Qi Li
Dr. Shigang Cheng
Dr. Shogo Seo
Dr. Sinobol Chusilp
Dr. Yong Chen
Dr. Yuhki Koike
Dr. Yuta Yazaki
Dr. Zhen Zhang
Dr, Naho Fujiwara
Dr. Paolo Grassi
Dr. Jayaram Sivaraj
Undergraduate/Graduate Students
Adam Minich
Daniel Recine
Elger Baraku
Ethan Lau
Forouhideh Peyvandi
Manvi Bhalla
Mehrsa Feizi
Michael Maalouf
Nassim Farhat
Richard Wu
Steven Botts
Tali Filler
Tina Zhou
Victoria Sattarova
Zechariah Martin
Ziyi Yvette Zhang
Arad Saheb
Shi Wen Wang
Joseph Chammas
Research Technicians
Alison Hock
Marissa Cadete
Rachel Filler
Exchange Students
Fang Zhou Yu
Francesca Nascimben
Jia Liu
Kristen Bortolin
Raffaello Bonacchi
Runnan Gao
Xinpei Miller Li