Principal Investigators
Rae S. M. Yeung, MD, PhD, FRCPC
The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and University of Toronto
Toronto, ON, Canada
Dr. Rae Yeung is a Professor of Paediatrics, Immunology, and Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. At the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Dr. Yeung holds the Hak-Ming and Deborah Chiu Chair in Translational Paediatric Research and is a Senior Scientist in Cell Biology and Scientific Director of its Biobank. Dr. Yeung’s research aims to understand the mechanisms governing autoimmunity, specifically the mechanisms involved in initiating and sustaining the immune response. Dr. Yeung is leading both national and international efforts to understand the biologic basis for heterogeneity in childhood arthritis and rheumatic diseases towards personalized treatment decisions for affected children. She is the founding chair of CAPRI (Canadian Alliance of Paediatric Rheumatology Investigators) and UCAN (Understanding Childhood Arthritis Network), a translational research network collectively representing over 300 sites from 50 countries.
Activity 1 Lead – Genomic Science Program
Susa Benseler, MD, PhD
Alberta Children’s Hospital and Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary
Calgary, AB, Canada
Dr. Susa Benseler is a paediatric rheumatologist and a clinician investigator at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. She serves as the Director of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute ACHRI. Dr. Benseler is a Professor of Paediatrics at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. She obtained her MD from the University of Freiburg, a PhD in Immunology from the University of Innsbruck and the University of Freiburg, and a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Toronto.
Her research focuses on improving outcomes of children living with inflammatory diseases. Dr. Benseler has built an international researcher and care provider partnership for children with central nervous system (CNS) inflammation. She established the first childhood CNS vasculitis and inflammatory brain disease clinic and research program and built BrainWorks, an international childhood CNS vasculitis investigator research and education framework. She is the past Chair of the Canadian Paediatric Rheumatology Investigator (CAPRI) Network.