Overview

My research interests are focused on improving care for hospitalized children. In particular, I aim to provide risk stratification tools that allow physicians to safely allocate precious clinical resources to high-risk patients.

Additionally, I have been interested in expediting evidence synthesis and shortening the process of implementing research findings in clinical practice. Along with a multi-disciplinary team from BC Children’s Hospital and CHEO (Ottawa, ON), I have launched a platform to crowdsource the systematic review process and provide an up-to-date living synthesis of evidence. This has allowed me to identify current knowledge gaps that will help to guide future research questions.

Publications

Epidemiology of brief resolved unexplained events and impact of clinical practice guidelines in general and pediatric emergency departments
Academic Emergency Medicine
Nassr Nama and Amy M. DeLaroche and Mark I. Neuman and Manoj K. Mittal and Bruce E. Herman and Daniela Hochreiter and Ron L. Kaplan and Allayne Stephans and Joel S. Tieder
DOI: 10.1111/acem.14881
03/2024

Short duration of parenteral antibiotics in infants with urinary tract infections
Paediatrics & Child Health
Nikita Menon and Anne Mutinta Deasy and Kellan Woo and Jalal Tarabishi and Eugene Yu-hin Chan and Kristopher Kang and Matthew Carwana and Nassr Nama
DOI: 10.1093/pch/pxad030
10/2023

Conservative and Surgical Modalities in the Management of Pediatric Parapneumonic Effusion and Empyema: A Living Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis
Chest
Fernandez Elviro, C. and Longcroft-Harris, B. and Allin, E. and Leache, L. and Woo, K. and Bone, J.N. and Pawliuk, C. and Tarabishi, J. and Carwana, M. and Wright, M. and Nama, N. and Ananda, R.A. and Ramakrishnan, P. and Alhejazi, T.J. and Chen, A. and Sharifan, A. and Shawqi, M.M.
DOI: 10.1016/j.chest.2023.06.010
2023

Canadian infants presenting with Brief Resolved Unexplained Events (BRUEs) and validation of clinical prediction rules for risk stratification: a protocol for a multicentre, retrospective cohort study
BMJ Open
Nassr Nama and Parnian Hosseini and Zerlyn Lee and Kara Picco and Jeffrey N Bone and Jessica L Foulds and Josée Anne Gagnon and Anupam Sehgal and Julie Quet and Olivier Drouin and Thuy Mai Luu and Gemma Vomiero and Ronik Kanani and Joanna Holland and Ran D Goldman and Kristopher T Kang and Sanjay Mahant and Falla Jin and Joel S Tieder and Peter J Gill
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-063183
10/2022

Risk Prediction After a Brief Resolved Unexplained Event
Hospital Pediatrics
Nama, N. and Hall, M. and Neuman, M. and Sullivan, E. and Bochner, R. and De Laroche, A. and Hadvani, T. and Jain, S. and Katsogridakis, Y. and Kim, E. and Mittal, M. and Payson, A. and Prusakowski, M. and Shastri, N. and Stephans, A. and Westphal, K. and Wilkins, V. and Tieder, J.
DOI: 10.1542/hpeds.2022-006637
2022

Brief Resolved Unexplained Event (BRUE): Is Reassurance Enough for Caregivers?
Hospital Pediatrics
Nama, N. and DeLaroche, A.M. and Gremse, D.A.
DOI: 10.1542/hpeds.2022-006939
2022

Duration of Antibiotic Therapy for the Management of Urinary Tract Infections in Newborns and Young Infants Aged Under 3 Months: A Living Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Using Crowdsourcing
Pediatrics
2022

Creating enriched training sets of eligible studies for large systematic reviews: the utility of PubMed's Best Match algorithm
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care
Margaret Sampson and Nassr Nama and Katharine O'Hearn and Kimmo Murto and Ahmed Nasr and Sherri L. Katz and Gail Macartney and Franco Momoli and J. Dayre McNally
DOI: 10.1017/S0266462320002159
12/2021

Conservative and surgical modalities in the management of paediatric parapneumonic effusion and empyema: a protocol for a living systematic review and network meta-analysis
BMJ Open
Emily Allin and Nassr Nama and Michael A Irvine and Colleen Pawliuk and Marie Wright and Matthew Carwana
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045010
03/2021

Treatment of UTIs in Infants <2 Months: A Living Systematic Review
Hospital Pediatrics
DOI: 10.1542/HPEDS.2021-005877
2021

Successful incorporation of single reviewer assessments during systematic review screening: development and validation of sensitivity and work-saved of an algorithm that considers exclusion criteria and count
Systematic Reviews
Nama, N. and Hennawy, M. and Barrowman, N. and O?Hearn, K. and Sampson, M. and McNally, J.D.
DOI: 10.1186/s13643-021-01632-6
2021

Evaluating the relationship between citation set size, team size and screening methods used in systematic reviews: a cross-sectional study
BMC Medical Research Methodology
O?Hearn, K. and MacDonald, C. and Tsampalieros, A. and Kadota, L. and Sandarage, R. and Jayawarden, S.K. and Datko, M. and Reynolds, J.M. and Bui, T. and Sultan, S. and Sampson, M. and Pratt, M. and Barrowman, N. and Nama, N. and Page, M. and McNally, J.D.
DOI: 10.1186/s12874-021-01335-5
2021

Successful incorporation of single reviewer assessments during systematic review screening: development and validation of sensitivity and work-saved of an algorithm that considers exclusion criteria and count
Systematic Reviews
DOI: 10.1186/S13643-021-01632-6
2021

Identification and Evaluation of Controlled Trials in Pediatric Cardiology: Crowdsourced Scoping Review and Creation of Accessible Searchable Database
Canadian Journal of Cardiology
Jenna Ashkanase and Nassr Nama and Ryan Vimukthie Sandarage and Joshua Penslar and Ronish Gupta and Sophia Ly and Melissa Wan and Phillip Tsang and Alex Nantsios and Erik Jacques and Hsin Yun Yang and Conrad Ian Tsang and Hajra Mazhar and Gang Xu and Maria Rodriguez and Samantha Gerber and Laurie M. Laird and Margaret Sampson and Derek T. Wong and James D. McNally
DOI: 10.1016/j.cjca.2020.01.028
11/2020

Live Scoping Review of N95 and Surgical Facemask Decontamination and Reuse: A Scoping Review Protocol
Katie O'Hearn and Anirudh Agarwal and Karen Choong and Shira Gertsman and Nassr Nama and Margaret Sampson and Lindsey Sikora and David J Zorko and James Dayre McNally
DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/rpc27
05/2020

Vincristine-induced peripheral neurotoxicity: A prospective cohort
Pediatric Hematology and Oncology
Nassr Nama and Mikaela K. Barker and Celia Kwan and Cheryl Sabarre and Veronica Solimano and Anne Rankin and Jennifer Raabe and Colin J. Ross and Bruce Carleton and Jill G. Zwicker and Shahrad Rod Rassekh
DOI: 10.1080/08880018.2019.1677832
01/2020

Quality control for crowdsourcing citation screening: the importance of assessment number and qualification set size
Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
DOI: 10.1016/J.JCLINEPI.2020.02.009
2020

Quality control for crowdsourcing citation screening: the importance of assessment number and qualification set size
Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
Nama, N. and Barrowman, N. and O'Hearn, K. and Sampson, M. and Zemek, R. and McNally, J.D.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2020.02.009
2020

Crowdsourcing the Citation Screening Process for Systematic Reviews: Validation Study
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Nassr Nama and Margaret Sampson and Nicholas Barrowman and Ryan Sandarage and Kusum Menon and Gail Macartney and Kimmo Murto and Jean-Philippe Vaccani and Sherri Katz and Roger Zemek and Ahmed Nasr and James Dayre McNally
DOI: 10.2196/12953
04/2019

Ligand-specific conformational transitions and intracellular transport are required for atypical chemokine receptor 3–mediated chemokine scavenging
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Montpas, N. and St-Onge, G. and Nama, N. and Rhainds, D. and Benredjem, B. and Girard, M. and Hickson, G. and Pons, V. and Heveker, N.
DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M117.814947
2018

Ligand-specific conformational transitions and intracellular transport are required for atypical chemokine receptor 3-mediated chemokine scavenging
Journal of Biological Chemistry
DOI: 10.1074/JBC.M117.814947
2018

LGBT Patients and Families Health Issues: Medical Students' Attitudes and the Inclusivity of Medical School
Pediatrics
DOI: 10.1542/PEDS.142.1_MEETINGABSTRACT.791
2018

Ligand-specific conformational transitions and intracellular transport are required for atypical chemokine receptor 3–mediated chemokine scavenging
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Nicolas Montpas and Geneviève St-Onge and Nassr Nama and David Rhainds and Besma Benredjem and Mélanie Girard and Gilles Hickson and Véronique Pons and Nikolaus Heveker
DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m117.814947
11/2017

Vitamin D deficiency in critically ill children: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Critical Care
James Dayre McNally and Nassr Nama and Katie O’Hearn and Margaret Sampson and Karin Amrein and Klevis Iliriani and Lauralyn McIntyre and Dean Fergusson and Kusum Menon
DOI: 10.1186/s13054-017-1875-y
11/2017

Medical students’ perception of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) discrimination in their learning environment and their self-reported comfort level for caring for LGBT patients: a survey study
Medical Education Online
Nassr Nama and Paul MacPherson and Margaret Sampson and Hugh J. McMillan
DOI: 10.1080/10872981.2017.1368850
01/2017

A pilot validation study of crowdsourcing systematic reviews: update of a searchable database of pediatric clinical trials of high-dose vitamin D
Translational Pediatrics
Nama, N. and Iliriani, K. and Xia, M. Y. and Chen, B. P. and Zhou, L. L. and Pojsupap, S. and Kappel, C. and O'Hearn, K. and Sampson, M. and Menon, K. and McNally, J. D.
DOI: 10.21037/tp.2016.12.01
2017

A pilot validation study of crowdsourcing systematic reviews: update of a searchable database of pediatric clinical trials of high-dose vitamin D
Translational Pediatrics
DOI: 10.21037/TP.2016.12.01
2017

Vitamin D deficiency in critically ill children: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Critical Care
DOI: 10.1186/S13054-017-1875-Y
2017

A systematic review of pediatric clinical trials of high dose vitamin D
Peerj
Nama, N. and Menon, K. and Iliriani, K. and Pojsupap, S. and Sampson, M. and O'Hearn, K. and Zhou, L. H. and McIntyre, L. and Fergusson, D. and McNally, J. D.
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1701
2016

A systematic review of pediatric clinical trials of high dose vitamin D
PeerJ
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.1701
2016

THE PEPTIDOMIMETIC TC14012, AN INVERSE AGONIST ON CXCR4-beta-ARRESTIN2 PATHWAY
Journal of Receptors and Signal Transduction
Nama, N. and Gravel, S. and Montpas, N. and Sylvain-Drolet, G. and Heveke, N.
2013

THE PEPTIDOMIMETIC TC14012, AN INVERSE AGONIST ON CXCR4-beta-ARRESTIN2 PATHWAY
Journal of Receptors and Signal Transduction
2013

Research

Brief Resolved Unexplained Events (BRUEs)
Along with an international collaboration, I am completing a project to identify infants with a serious diagnosis among those presenting with a BRUE. The derived algorithm will be implemented in a multicenter quality improvement project across North America.

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)
Our team has recently completed a systematic review on the effective duration of treatment for neonates with urinary tract infections. I am currently collaborating locally with members of the Division of General Pediatrics and Infectious Disease to shorten the length of hospital stay and treatment duration for these patients as a quality improvement.

Crowdsourcing Systematic Reviews
Using an innovative crowdsourcing approach, our team has been able to accelerate the process of evidence synthesis, leading to the completion of systematic reviews within a short period of time. To date, we have completed several systematic reviews targeting the treatment of UTIs, the treatment of pneumonia, the role of high-dose vitamin D, and a database of all available pediatric cardiac RCTs. As an example, we completed the systematic review on UTI treatment with a crowd from 13 different countries, and spanning 5 different continents. The crowd was able to screen more than 10,000 publications within 2-3 weeks.

Grants

2021 – American Academy of Pediatrics Resident Research Grant – Derivation and Validation of a Clinical Prediction Rule to Determine Risk in Infants experiencing a Brief Resolved Unexplained Events (BRUEs). Nama N, Tieder JS

2021 – Resident Doctors of BC Innovation Fund – Treatment of urinary tract infections in infants under 3 months of age: A living meta-analysis. Nama N, Donken R, Sadarangani M, and Carwana M

2020 – BC Children’s Hospital Resident Research Grant – Treatment of urinary tract infections in infants under 3 months of age: A living meta-analysis. Nama N, Carwana M

2019 – BC Children’s Hospital Resident Research Grant – Peripheral Neuropathy with Vincristine: A Prospective Cohort. Nama N, Rassekh SR

2016 – CHEO Research Growth Award – Crowdsourcing Systematic Reviews: A Proof of Concept Validation Study. McNally JD, Nama N, Sampson M, Momoli F, Barrowman N, Menon K, Nasr A, Macartney G, Murto K, Vaccani J-P, Zemek R, Henderson M

Honours & Awards

2021 – Friedman Award for Scholars in Health – Infants most at risk for a serious diagnosis explaining a brief resolved unexplained event. Nama N, Tieder JS

2021 – University of British Columbia – UGME Resident/Fellow Teaching Award

Research Group Members

Zerlyn Lee