Please join us Wednesday July 22nd at 7pm EST for a Q&A session with physicians from the Ontario Rett syndrome clinics. This is a great opportunity to have your questions answered and hear about other common concerns. Questions can be sent to us in advance at info@rett.ca or through our social media pages.

Pre-register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMrde-sqT0pHdHXJF1nXzrtXgg0iwRasifr

Melissa Carter, MD

Dr.Carter specializes in the genetic evaluation of individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. She is the Medical Director of CHEO’s Rett Syndrome Clinic and also co-directs CHEO’s Angelman Syndrome Clinic. In 2011, she joined the faculty at the University of Toronto as Assistant Professor of Paediatrics and staff Clinical Geneticist at the Hospital for Sick Children. In May 2016, she became staff Clinical Geneticist at the Regional Genetics Program at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), where she is currently an Associate Professor of Paediatrics with the University of Ottawa.

Caitlin Cassidy, MD

Dr.Cassidy is currently an Assistant Professor in the Departments of PM&R and Paediatrics at Western University. Dr. Cassidy’s main clinical focus is in the Transitional and Lifelong Care (TLC) Program, housed primarily at Parkwood Institute, St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s).  The program provides long term rehabilitative care to people with chronic and sometimes complex conditions of childhood onset, including Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida, Rett syndrome and others.  

Erick Sell, MD

Dr. Erick Sell completed his medical degree at the University of Medical Sciences of Central America in 1997 followed by post-graduate training in pediatrics at the National Children’s Hospital in San Jose, Costa Rica in 2002. He then completed two fellowships – pediatric neurology and pediatric epilepsy – both at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto from 2002 to 2006. After completing these fellowships, he returned to Costa Rica in 2007 and worked at the National Children’s Hospital in San Jose, in the epilepsy monitoring unit and the Vagal nerve program. He returned once more to CHEO in 2010 where his research interests include pediatric epilepsy and electroencephalography.

Victoria Siu, MD

Dr. Siu is the Medical Director of the Medical Genetics Program of Southwestern Ontario. She completed her training in Paediatrics and Medical Genetics at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and Children’s Hospital of Western Ontario in London.  She has had a longstanding interest in Rett syndrome, inspired by Dr. Patrick Macleod.  In 2000, she was a co-investigator on a project funded by O.R.S.A. to perform mutation analysis of the MeCP2 gene. She founded the Rett Syndrome clinic at Thames Valley Children’s Centre in London in March 2010, and enjoys working with a multidisciplinary team providing care to many wonderful girls and their families. 

The Ontario Rett Syndrome Association is pleased to announce that Al-Terra Engineering based in Edmonton Alberta raised over $30,000 for The Hope Fund in 2019 through their annual charity drive. Kelly Persaud, an employee of Al-Terra who has an 11 year old daughter named Lennox with Rett syndrome, was chosen as one of two charity drive leads. Rather than vote on a charity for the year, Al-Terra’s leadership unanimously decided they should support Rett syndrome research.

Events throughout the year included Pi(e) Day (pie in face competition on 3/14), Rett Syndrome Charity Hockey Tournament, Minute-To-Win-It, Ride or Stride and October Awareness Month. Al-Terra matched donations made by employees and the public at these events. Scroll below for some great photos.

All proceeds from Al-Terra’s charity drive has been added to The Hope Fund. Established in 2014, The Hope Fund provides grants to Canadian scientists conducting research towards the goal of finding a treatment or cure for Rett syndrome. The Hope Fund has funded over $500,000 in Canadian research to date.

O.R.S.A. would like to thank Al-Terra and Kelly for their passion and commitment to the cause. We look forward to sharing details of our 2020 grant recipients later this year.