The PCIGITI’s success in pediatric healthcare innovations is driven by a talented and visionary team of experts. Engineers, researchers, clinicians, and data scientists work together to help design cutting-edge technologies that enhance pediatric care. Their relentless pursuit of innovation, combined with a deep understanding of children’s unique needs, fuels the development of breakthrough solutions that improve health outcomes and transform the future of pediatric healthcare.
OUR TEAM
Team Members
Dr. Dale Podolsky
Co-Director: PCIGITI
Co-lead: Surgical Robotics, Medical Device Design and Simulation
Dr. Podolsky is a craniofacial surgeon at The Hospital for Sick Children. He earned concurrent degrees in mechanical engineering and physics from Western University before attending medical school at the University of Toronto. He completed his residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Toronto as part of the surgeon-scientist training program, earning a PhD in biomedical engineering. Dr. Podolsky then completed a fellowship in craniofacial surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle. During his PhD, he developed a novel robotic instrument for cleft palate repair, which was commercialized through a company he founded and is now used in over 60 countries.
Dr. George Ibrahim
Co-Director: PCIGITI
Co-lead: Image Guided Therapy and Pediatric Focused Ultrasound
Dr. George Ibrahim is a pediatric neurosurgeon and the Abe Bresver Chair in Functional Neurosurgery at SickKids. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and a Senior Scientist at the SickKids Research Institute, co-leading the Posluns Centre for Image Guided Innovation. His clinical and research focus includes epilepsy, spasticity, and movement disorders in children, with a leading role in the epilepsy and deep brain stimulation programs. His research combines connectomics, computational neuroscience, and machine learning, and he leads clinical trials in neuromodulation. He has over 250 publications and was named one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 in 2019.
Dr. Thomas Looi
Co-lead: Surgical Robotics, Medical Device Design and Simulation
Dr. Thomas Looi, PhD, MBA, PEng, is the Posluns Innovator and Project Director at the Posluns Centre for Image-Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention (PCIGITI) at SickKids. He earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Toronto, where he is also an Assistant Professor (Status-Only) in Otolaryngology and Mechanical Engineering.
His research focuses on minimally invasive surgical robotics and medical devices, including a bimanual neurosurgical robot, continuum-based daVinci tools, and MR-compatible robotic systems for biopsies. Dr. Looi has also developed dynamic surgical training models and simulators for various specialties using 3D printing and silicone casting techniques.
Dr. Adam Waspe
Co-lead: Image Guided Therapy and Pediatric Focused Ultrasound
OUR TEAM
Alumni
Post-doctoral / Research Fellows
Changyan He – Assistant Professor @ University of Newcastle
Jongwoo Kim – Assistant Professor @ Kyung Hee University
Grace Lai – Neurosurgeon @ University of Nebraska
Sergio Vega Salas – General Surgeon in Costa Rica
Adi Fahy – General Surgeon @ Penn State
Elodie Constanciel Colas – Ultrasound Engineer @ Imasonic
PhD Trainees
William Chu Kwan – Associate Staff Surgeon, Division of Orthopaedic Spine Surgery, Vancouver General Hospital
Grace ThiongO
Alex Gordon – Founder of Revolve Surgical
Arushri Swarup – Post-doctoral research fellow @ Imperial College
Kyle Eastwood – Medical student @ University of Toronto
Amanda Khan – Medical student @ University of Toronto
Justin Wee – Medical student @ University of Toronto
Robert Brooks – Founder of ForceN
MASc Trainees
Arion Law
Craig Macsemchik – PhD student @ Columbia University
Yaniv Khaslavsky – AI software developer @ CIBC
Zhiling (Zoe) Zou – PhD student @ U of T Department of Computer Science
Imogen Den Otter-Moore – Medical student @ Queens University
Suzy Wong – Medical student @ Western University
Hrishikesh (Rishi) Raghuram – Medical Student at University of Sydney
Nancy Wu – Vicarious Surgical
Claudia Lutfallah – Biomedical Engineer @ Galen Robotics
Nathan Soucier – Clinical Scientist @ Profound Medical
Andrew Lim – Biomedical/robotics engineer @ Revolve Surgical
Marko Mikic – Research engineer @ Otosim
Gloria Wu – Biomedical engineer @ Myant
Sivan Aharon – Software developer @ Microsoft Azure
Kevin Luo – Robotics engineer @ Sinovation Medical
Rami Saab – Founder of Revolve Surgical
Matthew Kang – Engineer @ Swift Medical
Peter Francis – Engineer @ Brachium
Joshua Lockwood – Software Engineer @ Ocado Technology
Fouzia Khan – Simulation Engineer @ Red Bull Technologies
Alex Chisholm – Software Development @ 7D Surgical
Jeremy Tan – PhD Candidate at Imperial College London
Kunj Upadhyaya – Research assistant
Karl Price – Robotics Engineer @ Boston Dynamics
Santosh Iyer – Robotics engineer @ Intuitive Surgical
Thomas Hudson – Otolaryngologist @ McGill University Health Centre
The Cradle
Canada’s first pediatric specific accelerator.
Canada’s first pediatric accelerator unites experts to develop innovations for children's care. It supports start-ups with legal, financial, and engineering resources to bring ideas to market.
