Roopa Suppiah

Staff Physician, Division of Emergency Medicine

Project Investigator, Child Health & Evaluative Sciences

Rotation Supervisor, Resident Training for Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics

Dr. Roopa Suppiah is a Paediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) physician at SickKids and General Paediatrician in the Greater Toronto Area. Her clinical and academic niche is in global and local health equity. Her specialized training includes an Advanced Fellowship in Social Emergency Medicine from SickKids, certificate in Global Health from the University of Toronto, and Certificate in Simulation with focus in health equity from the SickKids Learning Institute. She has unique expertise such as having co-founded and operated a Canadian not-for-profit organization called Water Well-ness Project for over 15 years, which worked to improve access to water, sanitation, and hygiene globally. Her diverse activities include supporting refugee patients, delivering PEM curricula for resource-limited settings internationally, and embedding health equity into simulation education. Her passion is to enhance care and wellbeing of equity-deserving populations.

Research

Dr. Suppiah’s current research includes designing and implementing health equity educational tools into medical simulation to support clinicians in their skill development. She is also involved in quality improvement work streamlining care of children with suspected travel-related infectious illnesses. Her other recent projects include understanding barriers to accessing primary care for patients with low-acuity presentations to the Paediatric Emergency Department during the COVID-19 pandemic and assessing anthropometrics and health conditions of paediatric refugees at the time of resettlement in Canada.

Education and experience

• 2024: Certificate in Simulation, The Hospital for Sick Children Learning Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2024: San’Yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training Certificate, Provincial Health Services Authority, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 2023–2024: Advanced Training Fellowship, Social Emergency Medicine, Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Paediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2022–2024: Global Health Education Initiative, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2021–2023: Paediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2018–2021: Pediatrics Residency, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• 2015–2018: Medical Doctorate, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
• 2009–2014: Bachelor of Science Honours, Life Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada 

Achievements

• 2025–Present: Global Child and Youth Health Section Executive, Canadian Paediatric Society, Canada
• 2025–Present: Co-Lead, EDI Moments program, Division of PEM, The Hospital for Sick Children, Canada
• 2025: Paediatric Consultant’s Education Development and Innovation Grant, The Hospital for Sick Children, Canada
• 2025: MD Program Teaching Excellence Award, University of Toronto, Canada 
• 2023–Present: Co-Director, Pediatric Emergency Medicine in Resource Limited Settings, Canada 
• 2022: Co-Lead Fellow, PEM Fellowship Program, University of Toronto, Canada
• 2022: Gold Star Award for Teaching in Paediatric Clerkship, University of Calgary, Canada 
• 2020: Alberta Medical Association Pediatrics Section Grant, Canada
• 2008: Co-founder, Water Well-ness Project, Canada

1. Suppiah R, Hetherington E, Grewal R, Ip-Buting A, Fabreau GE. Stunting and overweight prevalence among resettled Yazidi, Syrian and Iraqi pediatric refugees. JAMA Pediatrics. 2022 Dec 5;177(2):203-204. DOI:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.4782. Principal Author, Investigator.
2. Fingrut W, Cuperfain AB, Chan SS, Ptak E, Kahlon M, Dhaliwal J, Naidu A, Wang Y, Baribeau O, Mahmoudi T, Lee A, Suppiah R, Luo OD, Green M, Weiss J, Mercer D, Elmoazzen H, Petraszko T, Allan D. Development and evaluation of stem cell collection procedure diagrams to support the education and recruitment of committed stem cell donors. Vox Sanguinis. 2020 Sep 24;116(2):239-248. DOI: 10.1111/vox.13010. Co-investigator.
3. Fingrut W, Parmar S, Cuperfain AB, Rikhraj K, Charman E, Ptak E, Kahlon M, Graham A, Luong S, Wang Y, Yu J, Arora N, Suppiah R, Li EW, Lee A, Welsh C, Benzaquen M, Thatcher A, Baharmand I, Ladd A, Petraszko T, Allan D, Messner H. The stem cell club: a model for unrelated stem cell donor recruitment. Transfusion. 2017 Sep 24;57(12):2928-2936. DOI: 10.1111/trf.14327. Co-investigator.