Christine Chambers

Dr. Christine Chambers is the Canada Research Chair in Children’s Pain and Killam Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychology & Neuroscience at Dalhousie University. She is a clinical psychologist whose research lab is based in the the Centre for Pediatric Pain Research at the IWK Health Centre. She has published 150+ papers and was identified as one of the top 10 most productive Canadian women clinical psychology professors. A leader in patient engagement and knowledge mobilization, her #ItDoesntHaveToHurt initiative for parents generated 150M content views worldwide, trended nationally on social media, won national and international awards, and was featured in The New York Times, The Globe & Mail, and on CBC. She is the Scientific Director of a national knowledge mobilization network, Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP). Headquartered at Dalhousie with over 100 partners, SKIP’s mission is to improve children's pain management by mobilizing evidence-based solutions.

In her own words

Why does policy matter?

Policy matters because policy drives change. Canada is a world leader in children’s pain research and effective treatments exist, but this research is not consistently mobilized into practice. Canadian children subsequently suffer undertreated and preventable pain, leading to negative immediate and long-term health outcomes for children and families and detrimental impacts on the healthcare system. We need policy to serve as a catalyst for change to improve health outcomes.

What do you hope to accomplish during your time as a founding fellow?
My goal is to address the gap between evidence-based research in children’s pain management and undertreated and preventable pain children. I will organize public and professional events, prepare a policy brief, and write articles on the problem of pain in children, highlighting links to the opioid and vaccine hesitancy crises I will use our newly funded national knowledge mobilization network, Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP), to amplify the impact of these activities.