Brief Biography

Completed post-graduate training as chief resident in paediatrics at The Hospital for Sick Children in 2001. From 2001-2004 completed a fellowship in Academic General Paediatrics at The Hospital for Sick Children, as well as an MSc degree in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research Program from the University of Toronto. Appointed as a staff paediatrician (clinical specialist), Division of Paediatric Medicine, and Assistant Professor, University of Toronto in 2004.

Clinical Care Activities include General inpatient paediatrics, and outpatient complex obesity treatment

Academic Background

MD, MSc, FRCPC

Research Interests

Injury Prevention

Childhood obesity prevention

Health promotion in preschool children through office practice settings

Complex morbid obesity treatment

Learning Intersts

Child Advocacy

External Funding

2008-2013 Co-Investigator Canadian Institute Health Research Team Grant in Childhood Obesity

Achievements

2004 - The Children's Hospital Foundation Award for Excellence in Research - First Place, Fellow, Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba and the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

2004-Paediatric Research Award, Subspecialty Paediatrics
Research award, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto

2002- Graduate Student Union MSc Posters Award, Research award, Department of Health Policy Management and Evaluative Sciences, University of Toronto

Publications

Birken CS, Parkin PC: In which journals will pediatricians find the best evidence for clinical practice? Pediatrics 1999: 103: pp 941-947.

Birken CS, Macarthur C: Socioeconomic status and injury risk in children. Pediatrics & Child Health 2004: 9: pp 323-325.

Birken CS, Parkin PC, Macarthur C: Asthma severity scores for preschoolers displayed weaknesses in reliability, validity, and responsiveness. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 2004: 11: pp 1177-81.

Birken CS, Parkin PC, To T, Macarthur C: Trends in unintentional injury mortality rates in Canadian children living in census metropolitan areas: influence of socioeconomic status. Canadian Medical Association Journal 2006: 175: pp 867-868.

Au H, Harrison M, Ahmet A, Orsino A, Beck CE, Tallett S, Gans M, Birken CS: Residents as Health Advocates: The Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Child Advocacy Initiative at the University of Toronto. Paediatrics and Child Health 2007: 12: pp 567-571.

Porepa M, Lam C, Huber JF, Au H, Birken CS: Kids on kids' health: Creating a child health magazine with students from an urban, multicultural, low-income elementary school. Paediatrics and Child Health 2009: 14: pp 219.

Birken CS, Parkin PC, To T, Macarthur C, Wilkins R: Neighbourhood socioeconomic status and homicide among children in urban Canada. Pediatrics 2009: 123: pp e815-e819.