Dr. Collin Barker, MSc , MD , FRCP (C)
Medical Advisor
Dr. Collin Barker is a Pediatric Gastroenterologist at BC Children’s Hospital. His areas of interest is the use of databases to increase understanding and improve methods of patient care.
He is currently researching alternative approaches for the investigation of celiac disease, an autoimmune inflammatory condition of the small intestine related to certain foods, in order to streamline the process of its detection and diagnosis for both the patient and the medical system.
Dr. Barker’s other area of interest is in the gastrointestinal complications in children with cancer and how best to investigate and minimize the effects of chemotherapy on the GI tract.
CH.I.L.D. Foundation Research ScientistDr. Laura Sly completed her PhD training in Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Alberta and did post-doctoral training at UBC in Infectious Diseases working with Dr. Neil Reiner and at the Terry Fox Laboratory, BC Cancer Research Centre, with Dr. Gerry Krystal.
In January 2008, Dr. Sly was appointed as a new research scientist in the Pediatric Gastroenterology group funded by the CH.I.L.D. Foundation at BC Children’s Hospital. Dr. Sly has extensive experience studying the immune response and mechanisms to dampen down inflammation.
In the CH.I.L.D. Foundation laboratory at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, Dr. Sly’s research laboratory focuses its’ attention on applying new knowledge about the immune system and the process of inflammation to inflammatory bowel diseases, specifically Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.
Despite the complexity and diversity of inflammatory bowel diseases in patients, Dr. Sly is optimistic that inroads can be made to improve disease and reduce suffering for patients living with these diseases. Dr. Sly joined the existing Pediatric Gastroenterology research teams headed by Dr. Bruce Vallance and Dr. Kevan Jacobson in 2008.
Laura and her husband have two young children and are wonderful supporters of the CH.I.L.D. Foundation, attending many fund-raising events.
Dr. Bruce Vallance, Ph.D.
CH.I.L.D. Foundation Endowed Chair for Research in Pediatric Gastroenterology.
Dr. Bruce Vallance was appointed as the head researcher (CH.I.L.D. Foundation Research Scholar) of a unique laboratory funded by the CH.I.L.D Foundation at BC Children’s Hospital in January 2003. Since then, Dr. Vallance was named the Canada Research Chair in Pediatric Gastroenterology (2004-2014), a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Young Investigator (2004-2009), the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology Young Investigator (2007), and was most recently named the CH.I.L.D. Foundation Chair in Pediatric Gastroenterology (2011).
Dr. Vallance completed his post-doctoral fellowship at the Biotechnology Laboratory at the University of British Columbia (UBC), working with Dr. Brett Finlay, an international expert on gut bacteria. He completed his PhD training at the Intestinal Diseases Research Program at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, under the direction of Dr. Stephen Collins, Chief of Gastroenterology. During his training, Dr. Vallance developed models of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and studied how parasite and bacterial infections cause disease in the gastrointestinal tract, publishing more than 30 papers on these subjects.
Driven by a desire to help people and to solve difficult puzzles, Dr. Vallance, and a growing team of researchers are working in the state-of-the-art research centre, in a program that is unique in Canada. Research in the lab is currently funded by 2 grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, as well as funding from the National Science and Engineering Research Council and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada. Through these grants, as well as support from CH.I.L.D. Dr. Vallance has published more than 90 articles exploring how bacteria and the immune system cause the inflammation and intestinal tissue damage that characterize IBD. These articles have been published in such high profile journals as Science, Nature Immunology, Immunity, PLoS Pathogens and Gastroenterology and have been cited by other researchers more than 5000 times.
Aside from his own research, Dr. Vallance is a member of the oversight committee of several Canadian clinical studies exploring the causes of Inflammatory Bowel disease and most recently became the co-biomedical (Western Canadian) chair of the CH.I.L.D. funded Canadian Children Inflammatory Bowel Disease Network (2013). Dr. Vallance says that through this network, discoveries will be made to help alleviate, and perhaps cure, the suffering caused by Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, the two major forms of IBD.
Currently, Dr. Vallance manages a lab where Dr. Maryam Zarepour, Dr. Vijay Morampudi and Dr. Martin Stahl are pursuing their respective post doctoral fellowships. Andy Sham, Natasha Ryz, Justin Chan, Ganive Bhullar and Kirandeep Bhullar are all pursuing their doctoral studies while research technicians, Caixia Ma and Tina Huang assist in all aspects of lab management.