Chronic lung diseases present a serious health challenge for Canadian children and youth. For example, cystic fibrosis (CF) shortens life expectancy and carries an enormous treatment cost (>$250,000 per person per year). Another example is asthma, which affects nearly 1 in 7 Canadians under age 20. Improving the lives of people with these conditions is possible but requires accurate detection and close monitoring of their lung disease.
Unfortunately, the tests available to paediatric respiratory physicians are often difficult for children to perform and not sensitive enough to detect or subtle disease. This significantly limits physicians’ ability to detect, treat and monitor lung disease in children and must change.
My research program focuses on the development of easy-to-perform and sensitive tools to help physicians diagnose and monitor lung disease in children. Specifically, I am an expert in techniques known as hyperpolarised xenon lung MRI (XeMRI) and multiple breath washout testing (MBW).
During tenure of this Health Professional-Investigator award, I will lead research focused on improving the XeMRI and MBW techniques and using these new tools clinically to improve the health of children with lung diseases.