2020 Kawasaki Disease Canada Research Award
Congratulations to Dr. Rae Yeung
We are pleased to announce the second recipient of our 2020 Kawasaki Disease Canada Research Award.
On Wednesday, December 2, 2020, we presented our second research award of 2020 to Dr. Rae Yeung, a Physician in Rheumatology at The Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto. She is also a professor of Pediatric, Immunology and Medical Science at the University of Toronto and the Senior Scientist in Cell Biology Research at The Hospital For Sick Children.
Our award will help Dr. Yeung further her research that will help with the early identification of children at high risk for poor outcomes; define the optimal ways to manage children that are affected by Kawasaki disease and support an integrated set of COVID and KD cohorts from Canada, as well as EU and US partners, that will provide harmonized national and international case definitions and management pathways.
“The whole point of (our) research is to make sure that we improve outcomes in kids who have been affected with Kawasaki disease and more importantly, understand what causes Kawasaki disease and the crystal ball that is needed to identity kids that are not going to do well. We know that the earlier the intervention the better.”
Dr. Yeung will be working collaboratively with both Canadian and international researchers and expressed that, “It is only together, putting all our bright minds together, that we can make a difference.”
The team is seeking to answer questions that are meaningful to families that are affected by Kawasaki disease. “One of the most important things is to have that crystal ball, to be able to predict which children can really have minimal interventions and treatment and which children really need more aggressive treatment upfront, so that we can prevent the cardiovascular and other outcomes that put kids at risk. It is really with this in mind that we have this project…and the ability to be able to share that we want to make a difference. It is with this in mind, that we find the silver lining in this COVID cloud, because as you all know, COVID and the exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19 has been triggering a lot of cases that look like Kawasaki disease or may in fact be Kawasaki disease. One of the biggest questions out there right now is: Is it different than Kawasaki disease? Is it just a variant of Kawasaki disease? And what is it terms of lessons, that we can reciprocally learn from COVID and Kawasaki disease?”
Our award will support Dr. Yeung and the team in their efforts to find the answer to these questions. Thank you to all our donors for making this important research possible.
We are grateful for all of the work Dr. Yeung has done over the years researching Kawasaki disease and providing care to patients. We look forward to receiving updates about her collaborative research.
Together, we can save a child’s heart!
Photo: Elizabeth Heald, Board Chair, Kawasaki Disease Canada; Kenneth Manson, Research Committee Chair, Kawasaki Disease Canada; and Dr. Rae Yeung.
Kawasaki Disease Canada invites applications for its Research Award, to be awarded in Spring 2020.