Annual Report 2022-2023

“I am continually inspired and motivated by the ingenuity and talent of the researchers, staff, trainees, and volunteers at the CHEO Research Institute. As they continue to work together towards a brighter future for children and youth through impactful discoveries and innovations, our Board of Directors is humbled to support them in their incredible pursuits.”  

 Chris Dyrda, Chair, CHEO Research Institute Board of Directors

“We need to right-size pediatric health care by increasing the scale and scope of our services to better meet the needs of a growing population of children and youth. Research and innovation will help us do that. The CHEO Research Institute is an integral part of Team CHEO and by further integrating research into the DNA of CHEO, we are living our vision of providing the best life for every child and youth.” 

Alex Munter, President and CEO, CHEO

“The CHEO Foundation is proud to fuel the ground-breaking discoveries made at the CHEO Research Institute that will impact the lives of children right here at home and worldwide. Research at CHEO is made possible because of the generous donors who see the promise and hope research provides, and the researchers who bring that promise to life.” 

Steve Read, President and CEO, CHEO Foundation

Rare, Deadly Genetic Disease Successfully Treated in Utero for First Time 

Using a protocol developed at UC San Francisco, physicians have successfully treated a fetus with a devastating genetic disorder for the first time, and the child is now thriving as a toddler, a case study in the New England Journal of Medicine reports.

The child’s disorder, infantile-onset Pompe disease, is one of several lysosomal storage diseases that begin to cause severe damage to major organs, such as the heart, before birth. After six prenatal enzyme replacement treatments at The Ottawa Hospital, the child, Ayla, was born at term. She is receiving postnatal enzyme therapy at CHEO and is doing well.

Getting kids back to school sooner after a concussion can mean a faster recovery – new study 

Contrary to popular belief, rest from school may not always be the best after a concussion, a new study published in JAMA Network Open finds. In fact, an early return to school is associated with a lower symptom burden after suffering a concussion and, ultimately, faster recovery. 

The kids are not alright: Emergency department visits for attempted suicides rose globally among youth during pandemic

Even though pediatric emergency department visits decreased greatly overall during the COVID-19 pandemic, a newly published study led out of the University of Calgary and co-authored with researchers from the University of Ottawa, CHEO Research Institute, Toronto’s SickKids Hospital for Sick Children, and University College Dublin, shows there was also a sharp increase in emergency department visits for attempted suicide and suicide ideation among children and adolescents in that same period of social isolation.

First patient treated in world-first cell therapy trial to heal the lungs of preterm babies 

Researchers at The Ottawa Hospital and CHEO Research Institute have treated the first patient in an innovative clinical trial of a cell therapy that aims to prevent very premature babies from developing a chronic lung disease called bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). This is the first trial of its kind in in the world. 

Care4Rare celebrates a decade of life-changing discoveries and innovations in clinical genetics 

For more than a decade, the Care4Rare Canada Consortium (Care4Rare) has provided answers for families living with undiagnosed rare disease. Care4Rare is an international trailblazer in rare disease, using cutting-edge technologies to discover the underlying cause while bringing diagnostic innovations into the clinical care pathway for rare disease. 

New synthetic data platform launches; seeking collaborators 

The CHEO Research Institute launched a new software platform for generating synthetic data to improve access to electronic health record information and combined research datasets, while significantly reducing threats to privacy. It will advance pediatric research in precision health, which requires large datasets for generation of algorithms to personalize treatments.

Inside the inaugural CHEO Bears’ Den pitch event

Take a look inside the inaugural CHEO Bears’ Den pitch event where health care innovation takes centre stage. On Friday, November 18, 2022, a handful of med-tech start-ups were welcomed into the CHEO Bears’ Den to pitch their products and ideas with the aim of supporting and improving children’s health care. This event is a great example of how CHEO is leading the way with innovative ideas to tackle health care challenges today and in the future. Learn more!

Op-ed: With healthcare in crisis, let’s have the audacity to innovate a better way forward 

The current crisis in pediatric health stems from years of under-funding and under-resourcing. We need to right-size our pediatric system to meet the evolving needs of our fast-growing population of children and adolescents. These youth represent our future.

We also need to rethink how we deliver care, how we incorporate research and innovation clinically, and how we produce better outcomes.

CHEO clinical trial informs Health Canada approval of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for young children and infants 

Health Canada approved the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for children 6 months to 5 years old on July 14, 2022. This vaccine is safe for kids and it works. 

The CHEO Research Institute is one of 87 sites in Canada and the United States participating in the clinical research study, called KidCOVE, to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the Moderna mRNA-1273 (COVID-19 vaccine) for children six months to under six years of age.