Jennifer Stinson

Co-Director, Pain Centre  

Nurse Practitioner, Chronic Pain Program

Dr. Jennifer Stinson is a Nurse Clinician-Scientist in Child Health Evaluative Sciences, a Nurse Practitioner in the Chronic Pain Program at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), and Co-Director of the SickKids Centre for Pain Management, Research and Education. Dr. Stinson’s clinical work focuses on working with children and youth with chronic pain and their families as part of an interdisciplinary pain team in the Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine at SickKids. Her major clinical research interests are in the area of pain and symptom management and the use of e-health (internet) and m-health (mobile phones) technologies to improve the assessment and management of pain and other symptoms in children with chronic illnesses. 

Dr. Stinson also focuses on interprofessional pain education, which is demonstrated in her leadership in innovative training programs (Pain in Child Health - initially funded by CIHR, Co-I from 2009 to 2015; University of Toronto Centre for Study of Pain) and Paediatric Project ECHO at SickKids (PI funded by Ministry of Health), which provides virtual mentorship to community healthcare providers on the management of complex paediatric pain patients. 

Research

Dr. Stinson’s iOUCH lab is part of the Child Health Evaluative Sciences (CHES) research program at SickKids and focuses on the following areas of research:

• Promoting shared (children and their parents jointly manage the disease) and self-management (youth) in paediatric chronic and life-threatening health conditions.
• Electronic diaries to monitor and support clinical decision-making regarding pain and other symptoms.
• Internet-based disease management and transitional care programs to improve child health outcomes.
• Knowledge translation and patient engagement.
• Interprofessional pain education.
• Mixed methods research.
• Through evidence-based research and knowledge translation processes, her lab aims to improve the lives of children and adolescents through the use of innovative information and communication technologies.

Education

• 2009: Post-doctoral fellowships, IWK Halifax and University of Toronto, Halifax, Nova Scotia & Toronto, ON
• 2006: PhD in Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
• 1998: Master’s Paediatric Nurse Practitioner Certificate, State University at SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
• 1992: Master of Science degree, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
• 1988: Bachelor of Science in Nursing, University of Western, London, ON 

Experience

• 2019–Present: Co-Director, the Pain Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
• 2018–2020: Adjunct Professor, School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
• 2018–2019: Member, University of Toronto, School of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Nursing
• 2016–Present: Full Professor (Status-Only), Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
• 2015–Present: Senior Scientist, Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
• 2015–Present: Associate Member, Ryerson University, Yeates School of Graduate Studies, Toronto, ON
• 2014–Present: Associate Professor (Status only), Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
• 2014–Present: Mary Jo Haddad Nursing Chair in Child Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
• 2009–2015: Scientist, Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
• 2007–2009: Clinician Scientist, Centre for Nursing, The Hospital for Sick Children (Leave of absence during Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship), Toronto, ON
• 2005: Undergraduate Instructor – Nursing Research (NUR80a), School of Nursing, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON
• 1998: Advance Practice Nurse, Anesthesia Chronic Pain Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
• 1999: Clinical Instructor - Family Nursing Theory NUR 825 (Fall Semester), Faculty of Nursing, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON
• 1995–1998: Clinical Nurse Specialist, Anesthesia Acute Pain and Sedation Services, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
• 1994–1995: Clinical Nurse Specialist, Nephrology, Multi-Organ Transplants, Urology, Dialysis and Gynaecology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
• 1993–1994: Clinical Nurse Specialist, Nephrology, Multi-Organ Transplants, Urology, Dialysis, Gynaecology, Orthopaedic and General Surgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
• 1988–1992: Staff Nurse - Cardiology/Cardiovascular Surgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON

Achievements

• 2020: Member, Mental Health Working Group, Royal Society of Canada (RSC) Task Force on COVID-19
• 2020: Member, Scientific Program Committee, IASP 18th World Congress on Pain Meeting (Amsterdam, the Netherlands, August 4-8, 2020)
• 2019–2024: Member, Informatics Committee for the Centre of Excellence for Chronic Pain in Canadian Veterans ($20.1 million for first five years, with $5 million a year per year ongoing)
• 2019–2024: Member, Research Sub-Committee for the Centre of Excellence for Chronic Pain in Canadian Veterans ($20.1 million for first five years, with $5 million a year per year ongoing)
• 2019: Co-Lead, International Symposium on Pediatric Pain (ISPP) Toronto 2023 Bid Team
• 2019–present: Co-Chair, Chronic Pain Registry Task Force, Ontario Ministry of Health Chronic Pain Network
• 2019–present: Clinical Affiliate, Chariot Kids Consortium
• 2019–present: Research and Development (R&D) Committee Member, Chariot Kids Consortium
• 2019: Visiting Professorship, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, $8000
• 2018: Member, College of the Royal Society of Canada
• 2017: Fellow, American Academy of Nursing
• 2018–present: Member, IASP Presidential Task Force on the Global Alliance of Pain Patient Advocates
• 2017: Member, RBC Financial Group Chair in Cardiovascular Nursing Research, UHN, Search Committee
• 2017: Panel Member, American Society of Hematology Guideline Panel on Sickle Cell Disease-Related Pain
• 2017: Member, the Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee (OHTAC)
• 2017: Member, Canadian Pain Society Nomination Committee
• 2016: Member, Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario, Research Unit Working Group (WG7)
• 2016–2018: Member, Scientific Program Committee, IASP 17th World Congress on Pain (Boston, MA, September 12 – 16, 2018)
• 2016: Member, (CGS M) Review Panel, (IMS) Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto
• 2016: Member, Working Group 1C (Assessment and Evaluation), Clinical Practice Guidelines for Pain in Children with Cancer
• 2016: Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, Leadership Award in Nursing Research
• 2015–2016: James H. Flaherty Visiting Professorship, Ireland Canada University Foundation, $13,900
• 2015: Early Career Award, IASP Special Interest Group on Pain in Childhood
• 2015–present: Member, ACR Pediatric Rheumatology Symposium Planning Committee
• 2014–2015: Member, Clinician Scientist Training Working Group, University of Toronto
• 2013–2018: Peter Lougheed CIHR, New Investigator Salary Award, $250,000
• 2013–2018: CIHR New Investigator Salary Award, $60,000 per year for 5 years
• 2012: The Early Career Award, The Canadian Pain Society
• 2011–2016: Use of ehealth Technologies to promote Pediatric Chronic Disease Self-Management. Round 7 Early Research Award, Ministry of Research & Innovation, $150,000.
• 2011–2013: Canadian Arthritis Network & The Arthritis Society, Network Scholar Award, $120,000.

1. Birnie KA, Dib K, Ouellette C, Dib MA, Nelson K, Pahtayken D, Baerg K, Chorney J, Forgeron P, Lamontagne C, Noel M, Poulin P, Stinson J. Partnering For Pain: a Priority Setting Partnership to identify patient-oriented research priorities for pediatric chronic pain in Canada. CMAJ open, 2019, 7(4), E654-664.  
2. Jibb L, Stevens B, Nathan P, Seto E, Cafazzo J, Johnston D, Hum V, Stinson J. Implementation and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Real-Time Pain Management Smartphone App for Adolescents with Cancer: A Multicenter Pilot Clinical Study. Pediatric Blood & Cancer, 2017, 64(10).   
3. Stinson J, Ahola Kohut S, Forgeron P, Amaria K, Bell M, Kaufman M, Luca N, Luca S, Harris L, Victor C, Spiegel L. The iPeer2Peer Program: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial in Adolescents with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. Pediatric Rheumatology, 2016, 14(1):48. 
4. Stinson J, Jibb L, Nguyen C, Nathan P, Maloney A, Dupuis L, Gerstle J, Hopyan S, Alman B, Strahlendorf C, Portwine C, Johnston D. Construct validity and reliability of a real-time multidimensional smartphone app to assess pain in children and adolescents with cancer. Pain, 2015, 156 (12): 2607 - 2615. (Editor’s Featured Article)
5. Stinson J, Yamada J, Kavanagh T, Gill N, Stevens B. Systematic review of the psychometric properties and feasibility of self-report pain measures for use in clinical trials in children and adolescents. Pain, 2006, 125(1-2): 143-157. 

See a full list of Jennifer Stinson's publications