Shaun Morris

Clinician-Scientist
Child Health Evaluative Sciences

Dr. Shaun Morris is a Clinician-Scientist in the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program at SickKids Research Institute and Centre for Global Child Health. Dr. Morris is an Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto, and is cross appointed to Clinical Public Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. He completed his medical degree at Queen's University, Kingston, ON, and his Master's in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. Dr. Morris completed his clinical training in paediatrics and infectious diseases here at SickKids and further training in tropical medicine through the Gorgas Memorial Course at the Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru. Dr. Morris is the Co-Director of the Centre for Global Child Health and holds the SickKids Mining4Life Chair in Global Child Health.

Research

Dr. Morris’ current research interests include randomized controlled trials of interventions to reduce newborn sepsis and deaths in South Asia, epidemiologic studies of globally important and vaccine preventable infectious diseases in Canada, improving confidence and update of immunization, and novel diagnostics.   Dr. Morris is the Chair of the Paediatric Investigators Collaborative Network on Infections in Canada (PICNIC), the Co-PI of Canada’s Immunization Program Active (IMPACT), and the site PI of multiple trials and research networks at SickKids.  

Education and experience

• 1995–1999: Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours), Life Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Science, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
• 1999–2003: Doctor of Medicine, Queen’s University School of Medicine, Kingston, ON, Canada.
• 2003–2007: Pediatric Residency, The Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
• 2005–2006: Master of Public Health, Concentration in Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. 
• 2007–2009: Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship, Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
• 2008: Tropical and Travel Medicine Certification, Gorgas Memorial Institute, Lima, Peru
• 2009–2011: Research Fellowship, Global Health Epidemiology, Centre for Global Health Research, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, ON
• 2019: Advanced Tropical and Travel Medicine Certification, Gorgas Memorial Institute, Lima, Peru
• 2021-2022: Sabbatical Academic Leave with Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Thailand

Achievements

• 2009–2011: Pediatric Scientist Development Program – Yale University
• 2012: Sanofi Pasteur Award for Communicable Disease Epidemiology
• 2014–2016: Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Research Award – March of Dimes
• 2015: International Society of Travel Medicine research Award
• 2015–2018: Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program Career Development Award
• 2017: Elected Member – Society for Pediatric Research
• 2019: Pediatrician of the Year Award – American Academy of Pediatrics, Ontario Chapter
• 2021: Harry Bain Award for Clinical Teaching - SickKids
• 2024: Elected Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America

1. Drouin O, Moore Hepburn C, Farrar D, Baerg K, Chan K, Cyr C, Donner E, Embree J, Farrell C, Forgie S, Giroux R, Kang K, King M, Laffin M, Thibodeau M, Luu TM, Orkin J, Papenburg J, Pound C, Price V, Purewal R, Sadarangani M, Salvadori M, Top KA, Viel-Theriault I, Kakkar F, Morris SK.  Characteristics of children hospitalized with acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in Canada. CMAJ, 2021 193 (38) E1483-E1493; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.210053.
2. Morris SK, Pell LG, Rahman MZ, Mahmud AA, Shi J, Ahmed T, Dimitris MC, Gubbay JB, Islam MM, Kashem T, Keya FK, Mohsin M, Pullenayegum E, Science M, Shanta SS , Sumiya MK, Zlotkin S, Roth DE.  Effects of Maternal Vitamin D Supplementation during Pregnancy and Lactation on Infant Acute Respiratory Infections: Follow-up of a Randomized Trial in Bangladesh. JPIDS 2021 10(9):901-909. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpids/piab032
3. Groves H, Piche-Renaud PP, Peci A, Farrar D, Buckrell S, Bancej C, Sevenhuysen C, Campigotto A, Gubbay J, Morris SK. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, and other seasonal respiratory virus circulation in Canada: A population-based study.  Pub Med 2021. doi: 10.1016/j.lana.2021.100015.
4. Morris SK, Giroux RJP, Consunji-Araneta R, Stewart K, Baikie M, Kakkar F, Zielinski D, Tse-Chang A, Cook VJ, Fisher DA, Salvadori MI, Pernica JM, Sauve LJ, Hui C, Miners A, Alvarez GG, Al-Azem A, Gallant C, Grueger B, Lam R, Langley JM, Radziminski N, Rea E. Wong S, Kitai I. Epidemiology, clinical features, and outcomes of incident tuberculosis in children in Canada in 2013-2016; results of a national surveillance study. Archives of Disease in Childhood 2021;106(12): doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2021-322092 . 
5. Pell LG, Turab A; Bassani DG; Shi J; Soofi S; Hussain M; Ariff S; Bhutta ZA; Morris SK. Effectiveness of community distribution of an integrated newborn care kit to families for improving neonatal outcomes in rural Pakistan. BMJ Global Health 2019;4:e001393. Doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001393.

For a more extensive list of publications see PubMed

Funding

• Grand Challenges Canada
• Public Health Agency of Canada
• National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada
• Canadian Institutes for Health Research
• Aga Khan Foundation of Canada