My research focuses on using information and communication technologies to improve the assessment and management of pain and other syptoms in children with chronic and life threatening health conditions
Dr. Jennifer Stinson is the inaugural Mary Jo Haddad Nursing Chair in Child Health and a Senior Scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences (CHES) research program, within the Research Institute at The Hospital for Sick Children. She is a Nurse Practitioner in the Chronic Pain Program since its inception as well as Co-Director of the SickKids Centre for Pain Management, Research and Education at SickKids. She is also a Professor at the Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto and a Fellow with the Canadian Academy of Nursing.
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. Dr. Stinson focuses on interprofessional pain education, which is demonstrated in her leadership of innovative training programs (Pain in Child Health and University of Toronto Centre for Study of Pain) and Pediatric Project ECHO at which provides virtual mentorship to community healthcare providers on the management of complex pediatric patients.
Dr. Stinson recently received the 2025 Peter Gilgan Canada Gairdner Momentum Award for her international leadership in using technology, such as apps and robots, to improve the quality of life for children with chronic pain, for her pioneering work in digital therapeutics and training initiatives for pediatric pain assessment and self-management, particularly for conditions like juvenile idiopathic arthritis, sickle cell disease, chronic pain, and cancer.
Mary Jo Haddad Nursing Chair in Child Health Research
Established in the fall of 2013, the Mary Jo Haddad Nursing Chair in Child Health Research supports an outstanding nurse scientist in the development of a research program in paediatric child health nursing at The Hospital for Sick Children.
Dr. Jennifer Stinson, Associate Professor (Status) at the Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto, is the inaugural holder of this chair, effective July 1, 2014. Dr. Stinson’s 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.
-
2009 – Post-doctoral fellowships, IWK Halifax and University of Toronto
-
2006 – PhD in Nursing, University of Toronto
-
1998 – Master’s Paediatric Nurse Practitioner Certificate, State University at SUNY Buffalo
-
1992 – Master’s of Science degree, University of Toronto
-
1988 – Bachelor of Science in Nursing, University of Western
Dr. Stinson’s PubMed link is available here.