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Dr. Susa Benseler named Scientific Director of Children’s Health Research Institute
By Children's Health Foundation and London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute
The internationally recognized paediatric rheumatologist and clinician-scientist is focused on the next era of children’s health research
By Children's Health Foundation and London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute
Dr. Susa Benseler has been named the incoming Scientific Director of the Children's Health Research Institute (CHRI), a program of London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute (LHSCRI) and one of Canada's largest hospital-based child health research institutes.
Benseler is an internationally recognized paediatrician, paediatric rheumatologist and clinician-scientist. Her work has helped improve care for children with inflammatory diseases, including neuroinflammation, vasculitis and arthritis. She brings decades of experience leading research programs, building partnerships and connecting care teams, researchers, families and communities around a shared goal: helping children live healthier lives.
For Benseler, the opportunity to come to London, Ont. is rooted in the strength of CHRI’s people and partnerships.
“The size of the institution, the people that work here, the partnership between health care and university, and the opportunity for a transformative approach are some of the many reasons I chose to come to Children’s Health Research Institute,” she said. "I want to be in a place where the opportunity of bringing people together is highly impactful, and that is what I think London is.”
That partnership is especially important because child health research is not only about what happens in a lab. It is about finding answers that can change care, support families and improve health across a child’s life.
My personal mantra is that research is care and care is research.
Scientific Director, Children's Health Research Institute
Throughout her career, Benseler has focused on inflammatory and rare diseases in children. Inflammation happens when the immune system responds to injury, infection or irritation. But when inflammation continues or happens in the wrong way, it can contribute to chronic disease. Benseler’s work looks at how researchers and care teams can better understand these immune system “fingerprints” so children can be diagnosed and treated earlier.
Benseler trained in Germany before moving to Canada in 2001. She spent more than a decade at SickKids in Toronto, where she established leading research and clinical programs in neuroinflammation and systemic vasculitis and helped build global partnerships that advanced care for children with rare inflammatory diseases. She later held senior leadership roles at Alberta Children’s Hospital and the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine, including Director of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute. Most recently, she served as Chief Academic Officer for Children’s Health Ireland.
Early in her career, she spent time at the bedside and in clinics, often caring for children without a clear diagnosis or obvious treatment path. That experience taught her that finding answers requires different people and perspectives working together.
“To not have the answer humbles you,” she said. “You need people to think with you and to be a partner to support the child and the family.”
As she steps into this new role, Benseler hopes to strengthen the connection between research, clinical care, and community. She believes everyone has a role to play in advancing children’s health, from scientists and care providers to families, donors and community partners.
"Health research is a task that involves all of us," said Benseler. "No matter who you are, you can actually make a difference, and I want to empower our community beyond the health-care walls."
That vision builds on CHRI’s longstanding partnership with Children’s Health Foundation (CHF). For decades, donor support through CHF has helped build CHRI’s research capacity, from funding laboratory spaces to supporting researchers.
Benseler succeeds Dr. Victor Han, who is stepping down from his CHRI leadership position after more than 27 years. Since 1999, Han has helped build CHRI into a nationally recognized centre for paediatric research and innovation, strengthening London’s position as a leader in child health research and supporting generations of scientists, clinicians and innovators.
With Benseler’s arrival, CHRI enters an exciting new chapter – one focused on collaboration, discovery, and research that can make a meaningful difference for children and families across the region.