Dr. Leanne Ward

Dr. Leanne Ward is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa where she holds a Tier 1 Research Chair in Pediatric Genetic and Metabolic Bone Disorders. Dr. Ward is the Scientific Director of The Ottawa Pediatric Bone Health Research Group at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute, Medical Director of the Pediatric Endocrinology-Osteology Clinic at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and a pediatric endocrinologist-osteologist in the CHEO Division of Endocrinology. In 2014, she founded The Canadian Consortium for Children’s Bone Health, a national, multi-disciplinary network of clinicians and scientists that fosters health professional education and research in childhood-onset bone disorders and The Canadian Alliance for Rare Disorders of the Skeleton (a patient advocacy initiative). Dr. Ward’s research program is dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of childhood-onset bone disorders including skeletal dysplasias, bone fragility and mineralization disorders, and osteoporosis due to chronic illnesses. The Ward lab has a particular focus on therapeutic trials in childhood-onset bone disorders, emphasizing skeletal health outcomes quantified through central skeletal imaging, and the study of novel drugs to mitigate the functional consequences of rare bone diseases.