Ottawa Pediatric Bone Health Group

Ottawa Pediatric Bone Health Research Group

Leveraging Imaging in Clinical Research To Advance Pediatric Bone Health in Rare Skeletal Disorders

The Ottawa Pediatric Bone Health Research Group is a multidisciplinary research program within the CHEO Research Institute focused on diagnosis and the treatment of rare and complex skeletal disorders including including skeletal dysplasias (such as osteogenesis imperfecta and achondroplasia), genetic forms of rickets, hypophosphatasia, and osteoporosis related to chronic conditions like childhood cancer and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. A key clinical focus is the leadership of therapeutic trials, emphasizing skeletal health outcomes through advanced central imaging and the evaluation of novel therapies to reduce the functional burden of rare bone diseases. 

Dr. Leanne Ward

Dr. Leanne Ward is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa where she holds a Tier 1 Research Chair in Pediatric Genetic and Metabolic Bone Disorders. Dr. Ward is the Scientific Director of The Ottawa Pediatric Bone Health Research Group at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute, Medical Director of the Pediatric Endocrinology-Osteology Clinic at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and a pediatric endocrinologist-osteologist in the CHEO Division of Endocrinology. In 2014, she founded The Canadian Consortium for Children’s Bone Health, a national, multi-disciplinary network of clinicians and scientists that fosters health professional education and research in childhood-onset bone disorders and The Canadian Alliance for Rare Disorders of the Skeleton (a patient advocacy initiative). Dr. Ward’s research program is dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of childhood-onset bone disorders including skeletal dysplasias, bone fragility and mineralization disorders, and osteoporosis due to chronic illnessesThe Ward lab has a particular focus on therapeutic trials in childhood-onset bone disorders, emphasizing skeletal health outcomes quantified through central skeletal imaging, and the study of novel drugs to mitigate the functional consequences of rare bone diseases.   

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