Darren Kadis

Scientist, Neurosciences & Mental Health

Director of the Human Neurophysiology/Magnetoencephalography (MEG) Core

Dr. Kadis received his PhD through the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto, with training in neuroscience and clinical neuropsychology.  He conducted his graduate and post-doctoral research at SickKids, gaining experience with both invasive and non-invasive brain mapping procedures.

Kadis is a Scientist in the Neurosciences & Mental Health program, and Director of the Human Neurophysiology/Magnetoencephalography (MEG) Core at SickKids. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Toronto. 

Kadis is interested in how different regions of the brain support complex behaviour and cognition in childhood (i.e., brain mapping). He uses advanced neuroimaging and analytic techniques to study brain-behaviour relationships and neuroplasticity in health and disease.

Research

In the Kadis Lab, researchers use non-invasive neuroimaging to study how the brain supports language acquisition early in life, how the architecture and dynamics of the language network change in typical development, and how the network is impacted by injury, disease, and intervention. His team works most frequently with MRI and MEG, to study brain structure and function, respectively.  Kadis has extensive experience in presurgical language mapping with MEG; he has developed protocols that are now routinely used to map language in children undergoing epilepsy surgery.  

Education and experience

• 2021–present: Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2019–present: Scientist, Neurosciences and Mental Health, Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2019–2021: Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2012–2019: Assistant Professor, Division of Neurology, and Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati OH, USA
• 2012–2019: Assistant Professor, College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH, USA
• 2010–2012: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Division of Neurology, Neurosciences and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2003–2010: Doctoral Program in Psychology, Collaborative Program in Neuroscience, Clinical Extension in Neuropsychology (PhD), University of Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2002–2003: Master's Program in Psychology, Collaborative Program in Neuroscience (MA), University of Toronto, ON, Canada
• 1997–2001: Specialist in Psychology, Minor in Religion (Hon B.Sc.), University of Toronto, ON, Canada

1. Sharma, V. V., Vannest, J., Greiner, H. M., Fujiwara, H., Tenney, J. R., Williamson, B. J., & Kadis, D. S. (2021). Beta synchrony for expressive language lateralizes to the right hemisphere in development. Scientific Reports, 11(1):3949. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-83373-z
2. Williamson, B. J., De Domenico, M., & Kadis, D. S. (2021). Multilayer connector hub mapping reveals key brain regions supporting expressive language. Brain Connectivity, 11(1):45-55. DOI: 10.1089/brain.2020.0776
3. Barnes-Davis, M. E., Williamson, B. J., Merhar, S. L., Holland, S. K., & Kadis, D. S. (2020). Rewiring the extremely preterm brain: Altered structural connectivity relates to language function. Neuroimage Clinical, 25:102194.  DOI: 1016/jnicl.2020.102194
4. Williamson, B. J., Altaye, M., & Kadis D. S. (2019). Detrended connectometry analysis to assess white matter correlates of performance in childhood. NeuroImage, 186, 637-646. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.11.043
5. Barnes-Davis, M. E., Merhar, S. L., Holland, S. K., & Kadis, D. S. (2018). Extremely preterm children exhibit increased interhemispheric connectivity for language – findings from fMRI-constrained MEG analysis. Developmental Science, 21(6), e12669. DOI: 10.1111/desc.12669

View a full list of Darren Kadis' publications on PubMed and ResearchGate