Mac Kids has become a leader in evidence-based care, collaborative research, and innovative leading-edge education for pediatric illnesses.

Members of the Pediatric IBD Programme at Mac Kids study better ways to diagnose, treat, and monitor pediatric IBD. In some cases, we team up with research partners at McMaster University or other institutions in Canada and the U.S.A. At other times, our team works alone.

Our research group, established in 1983 as the Intestinal Disease Research Programme (IDRP), has published studies about issues in pediatric IBD that include:

• new medications
• diet and nutrition
• bone growth and bone density
• non-invasive alternatives or complements to conventional diagnostic tests such as colonoscopy
• psychosocial health and activity
• suitability of IBD-related information obtained in health food stores
• IBD-focused internet resources
• new technology to streamline maintenance of medical records

For an overview of our research, have a look at brief summaries of some of our publications.

2017 – 2018 Annual Report | 2019 – 2020 Annual Report

Current Research Projects

Generous tax-deductible donations from patients, their families, other individuals, and various private and public organizations make this research possible.

If you, or your family or friends wish to contribute to our research, we would welcome the support!

Thanks to a generous $15 million gift from Oakville’s Farncombe family, the IDRP expanded and grew into the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute. This institute:

• is dedicated to understanding the impact of digestive health and nutrition on disease — from chlidhood onwards
• aims to develop new strategies to diagnose, treat and prevent intestinal diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
• also studies diseases of other organ systems that may be caused and/or influenced by digestive health and nutrition

Other groups at Mac Kids and McMaster University are also involved in research into pediatric IBD and other pediatric gastrointestinal illnesses.