5 McMaster Pediatric faculty achieve academic promotion

As a new academic year begins, the Department of Pediatrics is celebrating the career milestones of five faculty members, who have achieved academic promotion, effective July 1, 2024.

Promotion to full Professor

Rajesh Ramachandran Nair

Ramachandran Nair is a pediatric neurologist specializing in epilepsy. His work includes research on the ketogenic diet and communication about Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy, and expanding the pediatric epilepsy program at McMaster Children’s Hospital (MCH). This program features a multidisciplinary epilepsy clinic and a state-of-the-art two-bed epilepsy monitoring unit.

Since 2020, he has served as the founding program director of the International Child Neurology Teaching Network of the International Child Neurology Association.

Elyanne Ratcliffe

Ratcliffe is a pediatric gastroenterologist who leads The Ratcliffe Lab. Her program combines her clinical and research interests in neurogastroenterology and focuses on the developmental programming and function of the gut-brain axis.

She acknowledges this career milestone was made possible with the support of her mentors and the department’s research services team, who strategized to help develop her program, prepare and polish grant applications, and offer numerous resources along the way.

“I like the model of identifying mentors, sponsors and coaches. I think all these facets are necessary to help foster an academic career,” she said. “I also feel that networking and collaborations are key, and that research is far more rewarding and productive when working as a team.”

Promotion to Associate Professor

Ronish Gupta

Gupta is a pediatric intensivist and the head of service of the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at MCH.

Under his leadership, Gupta helped guide the PICU team through several challenging viral seasons. He recalls this period as the most influential experience of his career, teaching him the importance of teamwork and collaboration.  

In addition to caring for patients, Gupta spends significant time engaged in clinically focused administrative work. As his career advances, he plans to apply his training in simulation education to streamline this demand.

“I think there is a huge amount of patient and family clinical impact that is based on administrative structures and procedures, so it’s important to study it,” Gupta said.

Esther Huisman

Huisman is a neonatologist and the head of service of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at MCH. She leads Quality Improvement (QI) projects aimed at ensuring the NICU has the required resources and care pathways to provide high-quality care for patients and families.  

As she begins her new appointment, Huisman looks forward to applying QI methodology to the Neonatal Transport Team and the Simulation, Resuscitation, and Outreach Centre at MCH to optimize neonatal care provision during transport and across the region.

Robyn Whitney

Whitney is a pediatric neurologist with academic and clinical expertise in epilepsy.

She is passionate about leading the multidisciplinary Tuberous Sclerosis Clinic (TSC) at MCH and helping to develop the Adult TSC Clinic at the Hamilton General Hospital.

As a passionate educator, Whitney hopes to inspire her pediatric neurology trainees to pursue their passions, just as the invaluable advice and guidance she received inspired her.

“I believe the most valuable resource in my career has been the support from my mentors and colleagues,” she said.