Future directions
Clinicians and researchers at SickKids have made pivotal advances in understanding the fundamental etiology of bone health disease. The Bone Health Centre is determined to improve health outcomes and clinical care of children with bone health disorders by
- Exploring novel areas of bone health research.
- Finding innovative treatment approaches to improve bone quality in children.
Clinical
In the short term, we will increase the number of times the expanded bone health clinic will meet, thereby providing better access to care for patients and their families. In the longer-term, we plan to have additional clinicians bring their unique patient populations to the clinic. Our three initial expanded areas will include transplant patients, oncology patients, and patients with complex medical disorders (e.g. complex inflammatory conditions).
Research
The short term clinical outcome will be the development of a clinical and genetic database. At the end of the first year, we plan to have this database operational whereby we can start enrolling patients for research studies. The longer term goal is to use the database to identify the genetic cause of bone health disorders.
In order to ensure the success of the Bone Health Centre, we plan to recruit a musculoskeletal basic scientist, with expertise in bone and skeletal biology and development, who will advance current fundamental findings into diagnostic treatment modalities.
Education
The Bone Health rounds will provide a venue discuss novel ideas on how to best treat and prevent bone health disease. In the long run, we plan to organize an academic day devoted to learning advances in bone health care and research. Once additional resources are secured, we plan to organization educational activities including dissemination of health education materials to other health professionals and the public.