Old Girl Dr Anya McLaren has been chosen by the ATS Pediatric Program Committee to receive the annual American Thoracic Society Assembly on Pediatrics Scientific Abstract Award.
This prestigious award is given in recognition of Young Investigators for exception contribution to Research submitted to the Assembly on Pediatrics. The award was presented at the annual Pediatrics Assembly Membership Meeting at the ATS International Conference in San Fransisco on May 16, 2016.
Dr. McLaren’s abstract Effect of Hydroxyurea on Pulmonary Function Decline in Children with Sickle Cell Disease was selected for the award.
With 1 in 500 people affected, sickle cell disease is the most commonly inherited genetic disorder in people of African descent. “Persons with sickle cell disease experience an annual decline in lung function that starts in childhood,” said Anya McLaren, MD, FRCP, MSc, lead author and respiratory medicine fellow at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. “This study is the first of its kind to look at the effect of hydroxyurea on lung function. We found that hydroxyurea improves annual pulmonary function decline in children with sickle cell disease by more than one-third.”
Anya is based in Toronto at the Hospital for Sick Children, Division of Respiratory Medicine.