Education

Fellowship Overview 

As an innovator in paediatric oncology, the Garron Family Cancer Centre (GFCC) is looking to develop future leaders in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The field of AI/ML utilizes algorithms and software to develop complex models to better employ data to support care and develop innovative solutions and is a growing field in healthcare.  

The GFCC AI Fellowship will focus on the use of AI/ML to inform patient and systems-based practices for best care of paediatric oncology patients and will span prioritization of clinical questions and scenarios, model development and deployment, and implementation. The successful candidate must have an interest in working with large datasets, statistics, quality improvement and implementation science.  

Eligibility

• Open to fellows across all disciplines who would like to pursue cancer AI/ML research, including but not limited to oncology, surgery, pathology, and diagnostic imaging.
• Clinical Fellows who have completed or will have completed at time of start of fellowship their core clinical training.
• Prior coding experience is an asset but not required. Applicants must have a willingness to learn coding and take part in AI or ML courses to build and apply coding skills throughout the fellowship.

Timeline

• Fellowship Academic Year: July 1, 2026 start
• Submission Deadline: October 17, 2025
• Program Acceptance: if accepted, an email notification will be provided by the end of November.

Fellowship Requirements

• Applicant must source two supervisors:
  • Clinical Supervisor: from the fellow practice area to support content expertise.
  • Technical Supervisor: whose lab or research area includes AI and ML. Technical Supervisor can be external to SickKids if proven leader in the AI/ML field.  
• Applicants are not required to have a project or model to develop at beginning of fellowship.
• Expectation that up to 20% of time is spent in clinical work in keeping with the professional role of the fellow.
• Introductory courses in AI and ML are requirements of fellowship and encouraged to be completed in first 3 months of fellowship, suggested courses include:
  • Introduction to Machine Learning
  • AI in Healthcare Specialization

Term

• Two year fellowship
• Academic year July 1 – June 30

Remuneration

• $98,566 per year plus modified benefits for the term of the fellowship.
• Laptop will be provided. 
• Up to $500 to support AI/ML courses in the first year of fellowship.

Supervisor contribution

• Supervisor contribution of $22,000 toward fellow salary is required. Please note if the fellow successfully receives external funding this will offset the supervisor contribution.

Application Requirements

• AI Fellowship Application
• Clinical Supervisor Application
• Technical Supervisor Application
• Two reference letters (not from supervisors) submitted to gfcc.fellowship@sickkids.ca

Fellowship Oversight Committee (FOC)

• Fellows are required to establish a formal FOC that will include supervisors, one to two mentors in ML/AI and one to two members from lab who collaborate on project.
• The goal of the FOC is to initially help the fellow establish learning goals thereby setting up a mentorship plan to support skill development in AL/ML.
• The FOC is required to meet bimonthly in the first year of the fellowship and quarterly in the second year.

Progress Report

• Fellow will be required to submit a progress report twice per year. 
• Coding knowledge will be evaluated as part of the progress report at the conclusion of first year of fellowship.

Fellowship Expectations

At the end of the fellowship, it is expected that fellows will be able to identify relevant practice questions, understand data resources and work with AI/ML experts in developing and refining models, analyze results and translate to clinical practice.

Fellowship Overview 

The Garron Family Cancer Centre (GFCC) and Centre for Global Child Health (C-GCH) Global Oncology Fellowship program is a unique training program that serves to develop leadership and scholarly skills in improving the outcomes of children with cancer and their families in low- and middle-income countries. 

Applicants should be looking to start a challenging two-year academic fellowship program. This interdisciplinary program will be accepting applicants from a variety of clinical, research and other related professional backgrounds (e.g., medicine and surgery, laboratory sciences, nursing, allied health, epidemiology, etc.).

Eligibility 

To be eligible, applicants must meet any one of the following criteria:

Application Timeline

• Fellowship Academic Year: Expected to start late June to early July, 2027.
• Submission Deadline: September 13, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
• Program Acceptance: if you are selected, you will received an email notification by the end of November.

Fellowship expectation

During the two year fellowship, fellows will participate in academic, education and mentorship opportunities in paediatric oncology and global health.

During this time, fellows will be expected to:

• Develop skills in research methods, knowledge translation, advocacy, and policy when they chose an area of scholarship that aligns with either research or capacity-building.
• Complete multiple research projects and/or capacity building projects.
• Build methodologic skills in an area which is mutually chosen by them and their supervisors.
• Contribute towards the supervision of trainees and participate in both C-GCH and GFCC activities.

These general objectives will be adapted to the specific circumstances and interests of the successful applicant. You can learn more about C-GHC's training and education opportunities at C-GCH Fellowships and Student Opportunities | SickKids page.

Duration

• Two year fellowship
• Academic year July 1, 2027 – June 30, 2028

Remuneration

C-GCH and GFCC will jointly provide salary support, alongside some salary contribution from the fellow’s primary supervisor. Successful applicants are also encouraged to apply for external funding opportunities before and during their fellowship. These opportunities may provide additional salary support or grant funding for ancillary research opportunities. C-GCH and GFCC members will be available to support funding applications.

Application Requirements 

Interested applicants must provide the following documents in order to apply to the Global Oncology fellowship program:

• Completed application form
• Current Curriculum Vitae
• Letter of Intent – single spaced, maximum two pages
  • This letter should highlight the applicant’s education, scholarly activities, and professional experiences, emphasizing how their training and work has contributed to, or has the potential to contribute to global pediatric oncology.
  • Applicants should describe why they are applying to the fellowship program and should also include a statement regarding their career goals and how they think the GFCC and C-CGH Global Oncology fellowship program will enhance their professional development.

Submissions instructions:

• All application material MUST be merged into a single PDF document and saved using the following file naming convention: [First name]_[Last  Name]_GO_Fellowship_[DateofSubmission using YYYYMMDD format]
  • for example, John_Smith_GO_Fellowship_20260913
• The final application should be submitted by the applicant via cgch.fellowship@sickkids.ca with a subject line reading “[First name] [Last name] - GO Fellowship 2026/2027” in the subject line.

References are not required at the time of application, however two to three supervisory references will be requested before an offer is extended. Supervisory references should be able to speak to a candidate’s skills and experience in research and/or capacity building as well as a candidate’s leadership qualities, interpersonal skills, and their potential for success working in global child health.

Contact

If you have any questions, please reach out to us via cgch.fellowship@sickkids.ca

Learn more about these opportunities offered through the SickKids Research Institute Research Training Centre (RTC).

 

The Garron Family Cancer Centre (GFCC) offers a unique fellowship opportunity for clinical fellows looking to enhance their experience in cancer research. The GFCC as part of The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is one of Canada's top ranked Paediatric Oncology Centres in Canada. This fellowship opportunity aims to provide training through direct participation in basic science or clinical investigation under the supervision of world leaders in oncology research and clinical care. The goal is to promote career development in the clinician investigator and clinician scientist tracks. 

SickKids internal applicants and supervisors are encouraged to review the GFCC Research Fellowship Terms of Reference prior to applying.  Note: this link will only work for SickKids staff.

Fellowship requirements

• Research undertaken must be cancer related.
• Fellows are required to participate in GFCC research seminars related to their research interests and as their schedules allow from the outset of their fellowship. 
• As part of the fellowship, fellows are required to commit up to 20% of their time per year to clinical activities.
• This is a 2-year fellowship starting July 1.

Fellowship eligibility

• Clinical Fellows who have completed or will have completed at time of start of fellowship their core clinical training.
• Applicants can apply in the year prior to the planned research activities.
• A supervisor and primary project must be identified at time of application. 
• The research fellowship is intended to start July 1 of the following year of application submission; off cycle start dates may be considered.  

Supervisor eligibility

• Supervisors must have a Senior Scientist, Scientist, Senior Associate Scientist, or Associate Scientist appointment at the Research Institute. 
• Project Investigators are eligible to serve as Co-Supervisors. The application must include a Co-Supervisor who has a Senior Scientist, Scientist, Senior Associate Scientist, or Associate Scientist appointment at the Research Institute. 

Supervisor contribution

• Supervisors are required to contribute $22,000 toward fellow salary.
• If the fellow successfully receives external funding this will offset the supervisor contribution. Please note, GFCC Fellows cannot hold Clinician Scientist Fellowship Program (CSTP) funding concurrently with the GFCC Research Fellowship.

Remuneration

• $98,566 per year plus modified benefits for the term of the fellowship.

Fellowship Oversight Committee

• A formal Fellowship Oversight Committee (FOC) is to be established to mentor and guide the fellow in the first year. The FOC is composed of at least 3 individuals including fellowship supervisor, a mentor for the fellow’s clinical and general career development, and a mentor with expertise in research that is being pursued by the fellow. There may be additional mentors who are also members of the FOC.

Application 

• Applications are accepted through the Research Training Centre (RTC) Clinician Scientist Fellowship Program (CSTP) deadline.  Visit the RTC website to review application. 

Deadline for applications

• For a fellowship start date of July 1, 2026, please submit applications by 11:59 p.m. on October 3, 2025 via the RTC CSTP application.

Fellowship deferral

• The GFCC fellowship can be deferred up to a maximum of 1 year. A written letter advising of deferral is required and must include signature from fellow and supervisor. 

Contact

• For inquiries about the GFCC fellowship, please contact gfcc.fellowship@sickkids.ca

Learn more about the Core Paediatric General Haematology/Oncology fellowship  from the Division of Haematology/Oncology.

Learn more about the Departmental Paediatric Haematology/Oncology fellowship from the Division of Haematology/Oncology.

Learn more about the Subspeciality Paediatric Haematology/Oncology fellowship from the Division of Haematology/Oncology.

Agness Chitedze

Supervisors: Dr. Avram Denburg and Dr. Sumit Gupta

Implementing Nanopore mRNA Sequencing and Machine Learning to Improve ALL Diagnosis in Kenya: An Implementation Evaluation Case Study

Childhood cancer is a growing global health challenge, with more than 200,000 new cases diagnosed each year. The burden of the disease disproportionately affects children living in Low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) where survival rates remain below 30% compared to high-resource settings where survival rates that exceed 80%.(1,2) In LMICs, most childhood cancers go undiagnosed with outcomes often limited by delayed presentation, limited diagnosis capacity, misdiagnosis, inadequate therapies and limited access to molecular diagnosis services contributing to poor clinical outcomes.(3–5) Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is one of the most diagnosed cancers in children and advances in molecular diagnostics, such as nanopore mRNA sequencing and machine learning have transformed leukemia care by offering accurate, timely and cost-effective diagnosis and classification for ALL in resource-limited settings.(6–8)

The current project focuses on improving access to advanced molecular diagnostics for childhood leukemia in Kenya. The project aims to generate foundational data by evaluating the core components needed for successful implementation of these technologies, assessing implementation fidelity, evaluating the potential costs associated with their implementation and identifying the barriers and facilitators of successfully implementing nanopore mRNA sequencing and machine learning into the Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) diagnostic algorithms in Kenya. The goal is to understand the needs and requirements for successful implementation of advanced diagnostics in resource limited settings and inform the future design and conduct of prospective implementation research on the effective, equitable, and sustainable deployment of these technologies in Kenya and comparable resource-constrained settings.

Dr. Laura Raiti

Supervisor: Dr. David Malkin

Exploring the Early Genetic Determinants of Tumour Risk in Li-Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS)

The intended objective is to validate genomic sequencing technology to detect TP53 variants in patients with LFS, explore prenatal cancer driver mutations and assess public acceptability of the introduction of genomic Newborn screening.

I am currently recruiting patients with Li-Fraumeni Syndrome from our SickKids Cancer Genetics to be involved in this study. Their Dried Blood Spots will be retrieved from CHEO, Ottawa (Newborn screen lab), and we will extract DNA from the Dried blood spot.

Their extracted DNA will undergo TP53 variant sequencing and Whole Genome Sequencing for exploratory work to better understand the presence and role of any driver mutations.

This project has the potential to impact the way we understand the risk of individuals with Li-Fraumeni syndrome going on to develop cancer, by looking at genetics changes that occur prenatally, with the hope that we can then detect and intercept the development of malignancies early with the goal of achieving improved outcomes.

In addition, it is an exciting opportunity to explore public acceptability of expanding Ontario’s current Newborn screening program to include genomic sequencing technology and genomic Newborn screening.

 

Dr. Talya Wittmann Dayagi

Supervisors: Dr. Joerg Krueger, Dr. Yigal Dror 

Short and Long-Term Outcomes of Patients With Inherited Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes (IBMFS) With and Without Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT): A Population-Based Pan-Canadian Cohort Study.

Inherited bone marrow failure syndromes (IBMFS) are rare genetic conditions that affect the body’s ability to produce blood cells, often leading to anemia, infections, and bleeding problems. People with IBMFS may also have birth defects, developmental delays, and a higher risk of developing leukemia and other cancers.

The only known cure for IBMFS is a bone marrow transplant (hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, or HSCT), where healthy donor cells replace the patient’s defective bone marrow. However, this procedure carries risks, including serious side effects from chemotherapy, immune system complications, long-term health problems, and secondary cancers. In recent years, new transplant approaches have improved survival, but we still do not fully understand the long-term outcomes for patients who do and do not receive a transplant.

This study will analyze data from the Canadian Inherited Marrow Failure Registry (CIMFR), which has tracked over 700 IBMFS patients across Canada since 2001. We will compare survival rates, complications, and overall health in patients who undergo HSCT versus those who do not. We also aim to examine how different transplant methods impact long-term health and identify genetic and clinical factors that may predict better or worse outcomes.

By improving our understanding of IBMFS and bone marrow transplant outcomes, this research will help healthcare providers make better treatment decisions, guide personalized care, and support families facing these difficult choices. Findings will also inform screening and long-term monitoring strategies to improve patient care.