Overview

My research focus is exploring the treatment and outcomes of patients with childhood cancer or chronic hematological conditions. In particular, I am interested in exploring how health care delivery models and health care policies influence patient’s medical outcomes. I am also interested in how patients and families report their experiences with their illness and health care encounters and how their illness affects their quality of life. In order to examine these areas, I use a combination of clinical research methodology, administrative databases as well as evaluations of existing health care programs.

Publications

Prognostic factors and outcomes of infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), hypodiploid ALL, and mixed-phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) in Canada: a report from CYP-C
Leukemia & Lymphoma
Pauline Tibout and Omar Ledjiar and Uma Athale and Meera Rayar and Ketan Kulkarni and Tony Truong and Sonia Cellot and Henrique Bittencourt and Marie-Claude Pelland-Marcotte and Thai Hoa Tran
DOI: 10.1080/10428194.2022.2118536
09/2022

Poor outcome after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation of patients with unclassified inherited bone marrow failure syndromes
European Journal of Haematology
Lim, Y.J. and Arbiv, O.A. and Kalbfleisch, M.E. and Klaassen, R.J. and Fernandez, C. and Rayar, M. and Steele, M. and Lipton, J.H. and Cuvelier, G. and Pastore, Y.D. and Silva, M. and Brossard, J. and Michon, B. and Abish, S. and Sinha, R. and Corriveau-Bourque, C. and Breakey, V.R. and Tole, S. and Goodyear, L. and Sung, L. and Zlateska, B. and Cada, M. and Dror, Y.
DOI: 10.1111/ejh.13733
2022

Incidence of childhood cancer in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic
CMAJ
Pelland-Marcotte, M.-C. and Xie, L. and Barber, R. and Elkhalifa, S. and Frechette, M. and Kaur, J. and Onysko, J. and Bouffet, E. and Fernandez, C.V. and Mitchell, D. and Rayar, M. and Randall, A. and Stammers, D. and Larouche, V. and Airhart, A. and Fidler-Benaoudia, M. and Cohen-Gogo, S. and Sung, L. and Gibson, P.
DOI: 10.1503/CMAJ.210659
2021

Cellular and molecular architecture of hematopoietic stem cells and progenitors in genetic models of bone marrow failure
JCI Insight
Heidemann, S. and Bursic, B. and Zandi, S. and Li, H. and Abelson, S. and Klaassen, R.J. and Abish, S. and Rayar, M. and Breakey, V.R. and Moshiri, H. and Dhanraj, S. and De Borja, R. and Shlien, A. and Dick, J.E. and Dror, Y.
DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.131018
2020

Androgen therapy in inherited bone marrow failure syndromes: analysis from the Canadian Inherited Marrow Failure Registry
British Journal of Haematology
Català, A. and Ali, S.S. and Cuvelier, G.D.E. and Steele, M. and Klaassen, R.J. and Fernandez, C.V. and Pastore, Y.D. and Abish, S. and Rayar, M. and Jardine, L. and Breakey, V.R. and Brossard, J. and Sinha, R. and Silva, M. and Goodyear, L. and Lipton, J.H. and Michon, B. and Corriveau-Bourque, C. and Sung, L. and Lauhasurayotin, S. and Zlateska, B. and Cada, M. and Dror, Y.
DOI: 10.1111/bjh.16445
2020

Regional differences in access to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation among pediatric patients with acute myeloid leukemia
Pediatric Blood and Cancer
Truong, T.H. and Pole, J.D. and Bittencourt, H. and Schechter, T. and Cuvelier, G.D.E. and Paulson, K. and Rayar, M. and Mitchell, D. and Schultz, K.R. and O'Shea, D. and Barber, R. and Sung, L.
DOI: 10.1002/pbc.28263
2020

A feasibility study examining the impact of yoga on psychosocial health and symptoms in pediatric outpatients receiving chemotherapy
Supportive Care in Cancer
Stein, E. and Rayar, M. and Krishnadev, U. and Gupta, A. and Hyslop, S. and Plenert, E. and Schechter-Finkelstein, T. and Sung, L.
DOI: 10.1007/s00520-019-04673-9
2019

Access to Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation among Pediatric Patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Population-Based Analysis
Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation
Truong, T.H. and Pole, J.D. and Bittencourt, H. and Schechter, T. and Cuvelier, G.D.E. and Paulson, K. and Rayar, M. and Mitchell, D. and Schultz, K.R. and O'Shea, D. and Barber, R. and Wall, D. and Sung, L.
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2019.02.009
2019

Reanalysing genomic data by normalized coverage values uncovers CNVs in bone marrow failure gene panels
npj Genomic Medicine
Lauhasurayotin, S. and Cuvelier, G.D. and Klaassen, R.J. and Fernandez, C.V. and Pastore, Y.D. and Abish, S. and Rayar, M. and Steele, M.G. and Jardine, L. and Breakey, V.R. and Brossard, J. and Sinha, R. and Silva, M. and Goodyear, L. and Lipton, J.H. and Michon, B. and Corriveau-Bourque, C. and Sung, L. and Shabanova, I. and Li, H. and Zlateska, B. and Dhanraj, S. and Cada, M. and Scherer, S.W. and Dror, Y.
DOI: 10.1038/s41525-019-0104-9
2019

Qualitative development of the sinus control test: A survey evaluating sinus symptom control
International Forum of Allergy and Rhinology
Banglawala, S.M. and Schlosser, R.J. and Morella, K. and Chandra, R. and Khetani, J. and Poetker, D.M. and Rayar, M. and Rudmik, L. and Sautter, N.B. and Sommer, D.D. and Smith, T.L. and Soler, Z.M.
DOI: 10.1002/alr.21690
2016

Do we need a formalized humanism and professionalism curriculum in pediatric hematology and oncology training?
Pediatric Blood & Cancer
Sylvia Cheng and Meera Rayar and Angela Punnett
DOI: 10.1002/pbc.25638
07/2015

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Comparing Pre-diagnosis Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)-Targeted Intervention with Ontario’s Autism Intervention Program
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Melanie Penner and Meera Rayar and Naazish Bashir and S. Wendy Roberts and Rebecca L. Hancock-Howard and Peter C. Coyte
DOI: 10.1007/s10803-015-2447-0
05/2015

Sarcopenia in Children With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Meera Rayar and Colin E. Webber and Trishana Nayiager and Alessandra Sala and Ronald D. Barr
DOI: 10.1097/mph.0b013e318279eea2
03/2013

Sarcopenia in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Rayar, M. and Webber, C.E. and Nayiager, T. and Sala, A. and Barr, R.D.
DOI: 10.1097/MPH.0b013e318279eea2
2013

Predictors of bony morbidity in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Pediatric Blood and Cancer
Rayar, M.S. and Nayiager, T. and Webber, C.E. and Barr, R.D. and Athale, U.H.
DOI: 10.1002/pbc.24040
2012

Educational services for hospitalized children
Paediatrics & Child Health
Savithiri Ratnapalan and Meera S Rayar and Michael Crawley
DOI: 10.1093/pch/14.7.433
09/2009

Should prevention of chronic kidney disease start before pregnancy?
International Urology and Nephrology
Guido Filler and Meera S. Rayar and Orlando da Silva and Ilan Buffo and Dion Pepelassis and Ajay P. Sharma
DOI: 10.1007/s11255-007-9328-1
02/2008

Research
Honours & Awards

Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship

Clinicial Graduate Degree Scholarship

Clinical Research Fellowship Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario

Research Group Members

Anastasiia Averianova, INSPIRE Student Volunteer
Rachel Dong, INSPIRE Student
Claire Rollins, INSPIRE Student Volunteer
Justin Yap