Mark Tessaro

Credentialing Lead, Emergency Point-of-Care Ultrasound Program
Creator and Director, Emergency Medicine Clinical Documents Library

Project Investigator, Research Institute

Contributor and Expert Reviewer, ImageSim Point-of-Care Ultrasound courses

Dr. Mark Tessaro completed a bachelor of science in biochemistry and microbiology at the University of Victoria, followed by a doctor of medicine at McGill University. He then completed his paediatric residency and paediatric emergency medicine fellowship at SickKids, as well as advanced fellowship training in paediatric emergency ultrasound at Maimonides Medical Center in New York.

Dr. Tessaro serves as Credentialing Lead for the Emergency Point-of-Care Ultrasound Program and has led numerous initiatives in ultrasound education, credentialing, quality assurance and clinical innovation. His clinical, educational and scholarly work focuses on paediatric emergency point-of-care ultrasound, health technology evaluation, and improving diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes for children in emergency care settings.

Research

Dr. Tessaro studies how point-of-care ultrasound can improve care for children in emergency settings. His research explores how ultrasound can support clinical pathways, procedures, timely diagnosis and diagnostic accuracy. He also evaluates health technologies, including their usability, cost-effectiveness and impact on patient outcomes. A major area of his research is ocular ultrasound, including the assessment of optic disc elevation and optic nerve sheath diameter in children with suspected increased intracranial pressure or shunt failure. He has also studied ultrasound applications for intussusception, pneumonia and airway management.
A secondary focus of his research is the development of novel devices designed to improve the safety of airway intubation.

Education and experience

• 2012–2013: Fellowship, Paediatric Emergency Ultrasound, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA
• 2009–2011: Fellowship, Paediatric Emergency Medicine, University of Toronto and SickKids, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2006–2009: Residency, Paediatrics, University of Toronto and SickKids, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2002–2006: MD, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
• 1996–2001: BSc with Distinction, Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

Achievements

• 2026: Research Impact Award, Pediatric Point-of-Care Ultrasound Network Annual Conference, Charleston, SC, USA
• 2026: Article of the Year Award - Runner-Up, Pediatric Point-of-Care Ultrasound Network Annual Conference, Charleston, SC, USA
• 2024: Top Scoring Abstracts Award, Paediatric Academic Societies Meeting, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2022: Article of the Year Award, Pediatric Point-of-Care Ultrasound Network Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, USA
• 2019: Canadian Respiratory Conference Best Research Poster Award, Canadian Thoracic Society, Ottawa, ON, Canada
• 2019: Margaret Fitch Best Research Poster Award, Lung Association of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2017: POWER Teaching Award, SickKids Department of Paediatrics, Toronto, ON, Canada

1. Davis AL, Tessaro MO, Schuh S, et al. Change in optic nerve sheath diameter and cerebral ventricular shunt failure in children. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(5):e2511009. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.11009
2. Lee MS, Mir F, Ladhani A, et al. A train-the-trainer point-of-care ultrasound program for pediatric pneumonia in a low-resource setting. POCUS J. 2025;10(1):157-163. https://doi.org/10.24908/pocusj.v10i01.18285
3. Chiu HH, Al-Farsi N, Wong AMF, et al. Diagnostic utility of point-of-care ultrasound and optical coherence tomography for papilloedema in children: a prospective pilot study. Br J Ophthalmol. 2024;108(9):1286-1291. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjo-2023-324552
4. Harel-Sterling M, Kwan CK, Pirie J, et al. Competency standard derivation for point-of-care ultrasound image interpretation for emergency physicians. Ann Emerg Med. 2023;81(4):413-426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2022.11.002
5. Tessaro MO, Friedman N, Al-Sani F, et al. Pediatric point-of-care ultrasound of optic disc elevation for increased intracranial pressure. Am J Emerg Med. 2021;49:18-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajem.2021.05.051

Funding

• 2021: Training artificial intelligence to detect increased intracranial pressure in children by analyzing ocular ultrasound imaging, Co-Investigator, Temerty Innovation Grant, $200,000 CAD