NICU trainees shine at Canada’s largest pediatrics conference

Four trainees from the Montreal Children’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) were recently recognized for their research at the Canadian Pediatric Society (CPS) Annual Conference in Quebec City — the country’s most prestigious pediatrics gathering, attended by more than 900 participants.

This is one of the largest NICU contingents to ever represent the Montreal Children’s Hospital at CPS, a reflection of the unit’s growing research impact.

Dr. Marc Beltempo, NICU Director of Research, joined the group. “This was truly an exceptional year for the Montreal Children’s NICU. Two of the four student platform presentations at the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine section of the Canadian Pediatric Society meeting were by McGill trainees. One of them even won the award for best trainee project, and we had two additional poster presentations.”

Each trainee had their research accepted for poster or oral presentation:

• Dr. Juliana Quintero Salazar (Neonatal Fellow) – Predictors of Early-Onset Sepsis and Risk Stratification for Preterm Infants
• Dr. Abdullah Alghamdi (Neonatal Fellow) – Long-Term Cardiac Outcomes in Children with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia: A Prospective Echocardiographic Study
• Dr. Nooshin Roofigari (Pediatric Resident) – Systemic Doppler Velocities in Newborns with Congenital Heart Defects: A Prospective Study
• Elias Jabbour (4th year medical student)– Trends in Antenatal Risk Factors and Outcomes of Very Preterm Infants in Canada (2010–2023)

Special congratulations to Dr. Juliana Quintero Salazar, who was awarded the CPS Neonatal Research Fellowship Award for her work. 

Elias Jabbour also received the Best Poster Presentation – Trainee Award for the same project at another national event, the Canadian Neonatal Perinatal Research Meeting.

“The CPS conference was a highlight of my medical training. It was rewarding to see how our research contributes to improving clinical care,” said Elias.