Anne Hicks, MD, MSc, PhD
Pronouns: she/her
Contact
Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Pediatrics Dept
- eagreene@ualberta.ca
- Phone
- (780) 248-5650
Overview
Area of Study / Keywords
air quality asthma climate change pediatric
About
Anne Hicks is an associate professor in Pediatric Respiratory Medicine and the clinical lead of the Stollery Children’s Environmental Health Clinic, a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre, at the University of Alberta. She developed the Stollery Pediatric Complex Asthma clinic and collaborates on provincial and national asthma care pathways. Her interdisciplinary research program includes population-level and individual evaluation on how the exposome impacts children's pulmonary health. As a climate change researcher, her clinical initiatives include decreasing the carbon footprint of care provision by supporting care in the community, particularly for rural and remote patients.
Research
My research explores the impact of complex environmental exposures on children's health, mostly focused on the development and control of pediatric asthma. Population health data can be combined with multiple exposures through machine learning and statistical modelling to map the impact of events such as wildfires or heat domes, and chronic or chronic intermittent exposures on health outcomes. Including accessibility to built and natural determinants of health like healthcare facilities, transportation, schools, green and blue spaces, social supports and cultural connections, for example, may improve our ability to identify factors that promote climate resilience. The carbon footprint of providing care and social services and of accessibility is also an important factor that may influence climate change.
I am also evaluating the relationship between indoor and outdoor air exposures, chemical uptake, metabolism and children's health, as well as exploring interventions with the potential to improve asthma outcomes.
My third area of interest and research is in asthma management, including the effects and side effects of medication. I am very interested in developing novel educational opportunities both in medical education and knowledge translation to children and families for asthma management and environmental health.
Teaching
Research: I am involved in collaborative supervision of undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate research trainees. Our interdisciplinary research team provides opportunities to explore health through multiple lenses.
Clinical: Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children, affecting up to 10% of the Alberta pediatric population, and respiratory issues are a very common reason for doctor and nurse and emergency visits and hospitalizations. I provide clinical teaching through my practice and am pursuing novel teaching methods to support care in the community.
Global: We support multiple clinical and community-facing teaching initiatives through our World Health Organization Collaborating Centre, including a project providing community and primary health care materials to accompany the Pan-American Health Organization Climate Change Pocketbook. Through the Children's Environmental Health Clinic, we developed a "volucation" project where trainees can take on small projects that allow them short-term options to explore and train in areas of research while contributing to these materials.
Courses
PAED 543 - Children's Health and the Environment
A seminar designed to address the growing evidence and to recognize the role of early life environmental exposures (biological, physical, chemical and social) as major determinants of child and adult health. Prerequisite or Corequisites: Consent of the Department.
Featured Publications
Tori Wright, Linn E Moore, Anne Hicks
Paediatrics & Child Health. 2024 July; 10.1093/pch/pxad083
Nicholas J. Nassikas, Meredith C. McCormack, Gary Ewart, John R. Balmes, Tami C. Bond, Emily Brigham, Kevin Cromar, Allen H. Goldstein, Anne Hicks, Philip K. Hopke, Brittany Meyer, William W. Nazaroff, Laura M. Paulin, Mary B. Rice, George D. Thurston, Barbara J. Turpin, Marina E. Vance, Charles J. Weschler, Junfeng Zhang, Howard M. Kipen
Annals of the American Thoracic Society. 2024 March; 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202312-1067ST
Tona M Pitt, Brian H Rowe, Anne Hicks
Paediatrics & Child Health. 2023 July; 10.1093/pch/pxac113
Jason McConnery, Jeffrey Bone, Ran D Goldman, Anne Hicks, Claire Seaton, Padmaja Subbarao, Theo J Moraes
Paediatrics & Child Health. 2023 June; 10.1093/pch/pxad037
Anne Hicks, Lindsay Komar
Paediatrics & Child Health. 2023 May; 10.1093/pch/pxac092
Linn E. Moore, Andre Oliveira, Raymond Zhang, Laleh Behjat, Anne Hicks
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2023 January; 10.3390/ijerph20031937
Anne Hicks, Patrick Hicks
Paediatrics & Child Health. 2022 October; 10.1093/pch/pxac060
Caseng Zhang, Matt Hicks, Maria B. Ospina, Vishnu Martha, Ghiath Alnouri, Liz Dennett, Robert Sataloff, Anne Hicks
Pediatric Pulmonology. 2022 June; 10.1002/ppul.25910
Caseng Zhang, Kaden Lam, Patrick Hicks, Matt Hicks, Lesley Brennan, Irena Buka, Anne Hicks
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022 June; 10.3390/ijerph19127076
Kevin R. Cromar, Laura A. Gladson, E. Anne Hicks, Brenda Marsh, Gary Ewart
Annals of the American Thoracic Society. 2022 April; 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202107-860OC
Shehzad Kassam, Jesus Serrano-Lomelin, Anne Hicks, Susan Crawford, Jeffrey A. Bakal, Maria B. Ospina
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021 August; 10.3390/ijerph18168347
Henry S, Ospina MB, Dennett L, Hicks A
International journal of environmental research and public health. 2021 August; 10.3390/ijerph18168799
Serrano-Lomelin J, Hicks A, Kumar M, Johnson DW, Chari R, Osornio-Vargas A, Crawford S, Bakal J, Ospina MB
PloS one. 2021 February; 10.1371/journal.pone.0247527
Canadian Journal of Respiratory, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine. 2021 January; 10.1080/24745332.2021.1877043
Canadian Journal of Respiratory, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine. 2021 January; 10.1080/24745332.2021.1945887
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. 2021 January; 10.1017/S2040174419000886
Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (United States). 2021 January; 10.1177/0194599820970950
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2021 January; 10.1164/rccm.2046P13
Shankar HM, Ewart G, Garcia E, Hicks A, Hardie W
Annals of the American Thoracic Society. 2020 September; 10.1513/annalsats.202002-180vp
Jesus Serrano-Lomelin, Charlene C. Nielsen, Anne Hicks, Susan Crawford, Jeffrey A. Bakal, Maria B. Ospina
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020 January; 10.3390/ijerph17238973
Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology. 2020 January; 10.1111/ppe.12639
Jesus Serrano-Lomelin, Radha Chari, Anne Hicks, David Johnson, Susan Crawford, Jeff Bakal, Alvaro Osornio-Vargas, Maria Ospina
International Journal of Population Data Science. 2018 August; 10.23889/ijpds.v3i4.719
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