Dr. Emily Kieran, Division Head
Neonatology is the subspecialty of pediatrics responsible for providing care to the sickest babies born in the Province of British Columbia. The Division of Neonatology is part of an integrated perinatal program within Maternal, Fetal and Newborn Services and provides 24 hour urgent patient care, consultation, triage, transport, follow-up of high risk neonates, teaching, outreach and research for the benefit of infants and their families throughout the province of British Columbia.
The Division of Neonatology sits at the cross roads between Children’s and Women’s Hospitals where it belongs to an integrated perinatal program. The academic Division of Neonatology and the Newborn Program at BC Women’s Hospital are very closely linked and involved in running one of the largest and busiest nurseries in Canada. It is the only referral center in British Columbia providing the full complement of subspecialties. Beyond the birth process, the complexity of the aftercare of these babies and their need for complex pediatric care drives the outcomes of the patients. Therefore activities in Neonatology profoundly impact the Department of Pediatrics, the activities in BC Women’s and Children’s Hospitals, the Provincial Transport Network, the flow of patients in labor and delivery suites and neonatal units throughout the Province.
With the rise in the rate of prematurity and survival of sicker and more complex patients, the importance of neonatology continues to grow as these babies who are at risk of death or long term disability cause a huge burden to parents and society with high ongoing costs to the health care and education systems.
UPDATED Jan 9 2025
Recognizing that the quality of clinical services and teaching are best improved through research and evaluation, the Division is committed to maintaining an academic environment that is widely recognized for its national and international leadership.
Research within the Division over the years has been mainly directed towards to reduce morbidity and mortality among the sickest of the sickest newborns; to generate knowledge and new innovations; to improve understanding and interventions for neonatal intensive care; to inform clinical decisions and policies surrounding neonatal care maintaining a sustainable, ethical, and rigorous program of research and education.
In recent years, research in the Division of Neonatology has built upon a broad range of clinical, basic science and bench-to-bedside translational research projects related to neonatal follow-up, child neurodevelopment, neonatal immunology, acute stabilization of high-risk newborns, bio-banking, pediatric surgery, genetics, bioethics, intensive care monitoring/technology development, cardiovascular physiology and nutrition.
The Division is committed to a high-quality educational environment, encompassing all aspects of health care from medicine to nursing, as well as social work, respiratory therapy, physical and occupational therapy, infant transport, dietician services, and other allied health professionals.
Teaching is directed towards all levels of trainees from the undergraduate to the postgraduate, as well as provincial outreach and continuing medical education for health care providers in Vancouver, British Columbia and beyond.
Medical education is offered to undergraduates and post-graduates. The core of the educational activity is provided to pediatric residents and subspecialty residents (fellows) in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine.
Faculty also supervise numerous Masters and PhD students in a variety of health and basic sciences disciplines.
One of the biggest successes of the Division over the years is outreach education. This partnership between the program and Perinatal Service British Columbia (PSBC) was seen as an important strategy to cope with a very centralized system. By teaching staff in peripheral hospitals to resuscitate (NRP program) and to stabilize babies (ACoRN) the Division was involved in a very active and successful outreach program.
The Division has seen an evolution in the delivery and nature of patient care, focusing in the concept of family centered care.
While inpatient care is the vast majority of overall service delivery, patient follow-up remains an important part of the spectrum of care offered to families. Generally, it is limited to the smallest and most at-risk infants as they are discharged from the NICU.
The Division is committed to quality improvement through ongoing audit activities, benchmarking and the development of clinical practice guidelines, care pathways, and care protocols established in various ongoing program committees.
For benchmarking of clinical activities and outcomes the Division is part of the Canadian Neonatal Network and the Canadian Neonatal Follow up Network.
Neonatologists
Dr. Emily Kieran, Clinical Assistant Professor, Division Head
Dr. Michael Castaldo, Clinical Assistant Professor, Medical Lead, Neonatal Transport and TnEcho Program
Dr. Anil Chacko, Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. Julia Charlton, Clinical Associate Professor, Senior Medical Director Neonatal Program
Dr. Tapas Kulkarni, Clinical Instructor, Director of the Neonatal‐Perinatal Medicine (NPM) Fellowship Program
Dr. Pascal Lavoie, Professor, Clinician Scientist
Dr. Deepak Manhas, Clinical Associate Professor, Vice-Chair of the Subspecialty Department of Pediatrics, UBC & BCCH, Medical Lead of the Simulation for BC Children’s Hospital & BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre (C&W)
Dr. Souvik Mitra, Associate Professor
Dr. Nikoo Niknafs, Neonatologist (locum)
Dr. Horacio Osiovich, Clinical Professor
Dr. Julia Panczuk, Clinical Assistant Professor (on leave)
Dr. Sandesh Shivananda, Associate Professor
Dr. Jessie Van Dyk, Clinical Assistant Professor, Medical Director Neonatal Follow-up Clinic
Dr. Jonathan Wong, Clinical Assistant Professor
Other Faculty
Ruth Grunau, PhD., Professor, Scientist
Liisa Holsti, PhD, Associate Professor
Rajavel Elango, PhD, Associate Professor
Manon Ranger, PhD, Assistant Professor
Clinical Associates
Dr. Kevin Ansah, MD FRCP
Dr. Shelagh Anson, Shelagh, MD FRCP
Dr. Anne Antrim, MD FRCP
Dr. Rosemary Binnie, MD FRCP
Dr. Rodney Bucke, MD FRCP
Dr. Margaret Choi, MD FRCP
Dr. Marie Catherine Chua, Associate Physician
Dr. Keerat Dhaliwal, MD FRCP
Dr. Isaac Elias, MD FRCP
Dr. Carson Gill, MD FRCP
Dr. Deborah Gilmer, MD FRCP
Dr. Gurpreet Grewal, Associate Physician
Dr. Odion Kalaci, MD FRCP
Dr. Hannah Kraicer-Melamed, MD FRCP
Dr. Uthaya Kumaran, MD FRCP Associate Physician
Dr. Mei Mei Lam, Associate Physician
Dr. Ana Sofia (Sofie) Lopez, MD FRCP
Dr. Cheryl Mutch, MD FRCP
Dr. Nicole Radziminski, MD FRCP
Dr. Michelle Sherwood, MD FRCP
Dr. Jen Sibley, MD FRCP
Dr. Matthew Sibley, MD FRCP
Dr. Kelly Wilson, MD FRCP
Clinical Instructors
Dr. Ana (Sofie) Lopez, MD FRCP
Dr. Odion Kalaci, MD FRCP
Dr. Jennifer Sibley, MD FRCP
Subspecialty Residents/Clinical Fellows
Dr. Kia Anarna
Dr. Abdulelah Binaqail
Dr. Jackie Clayton
Dr. Julieta Mariel Conti
Dr. Taylor Davis
Dr. Khushboo Kanwal
Dr. Deborah Katurura
Dr. Judith Leyens
Dr. Nyirasafari Rosine
Dr. Michelle O’Brien
Dr. Avram Raphael Shack
Dr. Enikő Szakmár
Dr. Daniela Valenzuela
Research
Lindsay Richter, Research Manager
Administration
Carmel Der, Business Operations Manager
Admin Assistants
Lisa Gordon for Drs. Michael Castaldo, Emily Kieran, Nikoo Niknafs, and Clinical Associates.
Satwinder Deol for Drs. Anil Chacko, Deepak Manhas, Jonathan Wong, Medical Students and Pediatric Residents.
Nicole Wong for Drs. Horacio Osiovich, Tapas Kulkarni, Jessie Van Dyk, Subspecialty Residents and Clinical Fellows.