Lisa Isaac

Medical Director, Transitional Pain Service

Dr. Lisa Isaac is a paediatric anesthesiologist and pain specialist in the Transitional and Chronic Pain clinics at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada. She is the medical director of the first transitional pain service for children in Canada, which she established in 2012. She developed a curriculum to train both paediatricians and anesthesiologists in paediatric pain, becoming the first paediatric pain fellowship in Canada to do so. In this role she has welcomed and supports trainees from around the world. She is past member of the executive of the Ontario Chronic Pain Network and co-lead of the Clinical Care Committee, where she has been a key proponent of an initiative to increase access to and equalize pain care across the province. As the Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion of the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, she is developing and leading a Women and their Allies in Research Forum, to increase access to and support for people who identify as women and gender diverse peoples in the pursuit of academic endeavors.

Research

Dr. Isaac's research focuses on the transition from acute to chronic pain in children, opioid stewardship and the prevention of chronic pain in children. She also works on benchmarking diversity in medicine and mechanisms to increase inclusion in medical/surgical environments for patients and health-care providers.

Education and experience

• 2021–Present: Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2010–2021: Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2006–Present: Staff Physician, Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2005–2006: Honorary Senior Lecturer, University College, London, UK
• 1999–2010: Lecturer, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 1999–2005: Staff Physician, Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada (Leave of absence 2005–2006)
• 1998–1999: Fellow in Pediatric Anesthesia and Pedicatric Intensive Care, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
• 1998: Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Canada in Anesthesiology
• 1989–1993: MD, University of Western Ontario (now Western University), London, ON, Canada

Achievements

• 2024: Aug Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship: Communicating Science & Improving Care – offered through a competitive process to provide a three-day communication workshop in Washinton, DC to clinicians and researchers based in the US or Canada who are passionate about improving pain care and who are dedicated to building communications skills and strategies
• 2021: Faculty Clinical Excellence Award. Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

1. Ruskin D, Szczech K, Tyrrell J, Isaac L. Innovative Program to Prevent Pediatric Chronic Postsurgical Pain: Patient Partner Feedback on Intervention Development. Healthcare (Basel). 2024 Jan 31;12(3):360. doi: 10.3390/healthcare12030360. PMID: 38338245; PMCID: PMC10855720. Co-author 
2. Isaac L, Rosenbloom BN, Tyrrell J, Ruskin DA, Birnie KA. Development and expansion of a pediatric transitional pain service to prevent complex chronic pain. Front Pain Res (Lausanne). 2023 Nov 2;4:1173675. doi: 10.3389/fpain.2023.1173675. PMID: 38028427; PMCID: PMC10651731. First and senior author 
3. Downing L, Ramjist JK, Tyrrell A, Tsang M, Isaac L, Fecteau A. Development of a five point enhanced recovery protocol for pectus excavatum surgery. J Pediatr Surg. 2023 May;58(5):822-827. doi: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2023.01.028. Epub 2023 Jan 18. PMID: 36788057. co-Senior author 
4. Stratton C, Tyrrell J, Goren R, Lalloo C, Isaac L. The "STOP Pain" Questionnaire: using the Plan-Do-Study-Act model to implement a patient-family preferences-informed questionnaire into a pediatric transitional pain clinic. J Patient Rep Outcomes. 2022 Nov 29;6(1):120. doi: 10.1186/s41687-022-00520-4. Senior author 
5. Sun N, Steinberg B, Faraoni D, Isaac L. Variability in Discharge Opioid Prescribing Practices for Children: A Historical Cohort study. Can J Anesth/J Can Anesth. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12630-021-02160-6 Senior Author