Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital is leading a groundbreaking national precision health initiative for children and youth, focusing on neurodevelopmental conditions, mental health, and brain injuries12. This initiative is part of the larger Canadian Precision Health Initiative (CPHI), which aims to build Canada’s largest-ever collection of human genomic data12.
The project at Holland Bloorview will receive a $12 million investment to sequence the genes of 10,000 individuals12. This effort will create the largest genomics dataset dedicated to understanding childhood-onset neurodevelopmental, mental health, and brain injury conditions12.
Collaborative Effort
Holland Bloorview is partnering with several institutions across Canada, including:
- The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)
- University Health Network (UHN)
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
- Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)
- McMaster Children’s Hospital
- London Health Sciences Centre
- Queen’s University
- Grandview Kids1
Impact on Neurodevelopmental Research
This initiative is particularly significant for neurodevelopmental research:
- Addressing a Critical Need: Neurodevelopmental, brain injury, and mental health conditions affect almost 10% of children and youth in Canada, yet there have been few breakthroughs in optimizing their overall health and well-being12.
- Precision Health Approach: By linking genetic sequencing data with clinical, environmental, and administrative datasets, scientists will have the opportunity to inform proactive and personalized treatments for children and youth12.
- Diverse Representation: The project aims to represent the diversity of the Canadian population, which is crucial for understanding genetic differences underlying neurodiversity, brain injury, and mental health12.
- Complementary Research: This initiative aligns with other precision health efforts, such as the Precision Child Health project at SickKids, which focuses on childhood-onset conditions and will sequence 10,000 genomes over four years4.
- Rare Disease Focus: The Bloorview Research Institute is also leading research on rare conditions linked to neurodevelopmental differences and pediatric disabilities, examining the interconnection among biology, psychology, and socio-environmental factors5.
By leveraging genome-wide sequencing, this initiative has the potential to revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of neurodevelopmental conditions in children and youth, paving the way for more personalized and effective healthcare interventions1245.
Citations:
- https://financialpost.com/globe-newswire/holland-bloorview-leads-national-precision-health-initiative-for-children-and-youth
- https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/03/05/3037690/0/en/Holland-Bloorview-leads-national-precision-health-initiative-for-children-and-youth.html
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11238031/
- https://www.sickkids.ca/en/news/archive/2025/genome-canada-awards-sickkids-$11.7-million-to-advance-precision-child-health/
- https://hollandbloorview.ca/stories-news-events/news/leading-way-pediatric-rare-conditions-neurodevelopmental-conditions-and
- https://www.hqontario.ca/Portals/0/Documents/evidence/reports/hta-genome-wide-sequencing.pdf
- https://www.bcchr.ca/phi
- https://muhc.ca/news-and-patient-stories/news/genetic-causes-cerebral-palsy-uncovered-through-whole-genome
- https://www.sickkids.ca/en/about/precision-child-health/
- https://hollandbloorview.ca
- https://jmg.bmj.com/content/60/6/523
- https://hollandbloorview.ca/stories-news-events/news/holland-bloorview-leads-national-precision-health-initiative-children-and-youth
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41431-022-01185-9
- https://genomecanada.ca/challenge-areas/canadian-precision-health-initiative/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36822643/
- https://voiceonline.com/new-disease-discovered-through-precision-health-initiative-ends-familys-search-for-diagnosis/
- https://www.ccmg-ccgm.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CCMG-Position-Statement_Genetic-and-metabolic-investigations-for-Neurodevelopmental-disorders.pdf
- https://www.abbynews.com/local-news/precision-health-initiative-brings-answers-for-hope-family-7327289
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2647153/
- https://www.bcchr.ca/research/stories/reimagining-patient-care-qa-dr-stuart-turvey-precision-health-lead
- https://hollandbloorview.ca/stories-news-events/news/holland-bloorview-help-expansion-canadian-platform-federated-ai-powered
