Amy Ornstein, MDCM, MSc, FRCPC, FAAP

Education

• FRCPC (University of Toronto)
  
• MDCM (McGill University)
• MSc (Dalhousie University)
• BSc (Concordia University)

Employment

• Medical director, IWK Suspected Trauma and Abuse Response Team (START), IWK
• Head, Division of General Pediatrics, Dalhousie University
• Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Dalhousie University

Biography

Formerly, Dr. Ornstein worked in the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) Program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Dr. Ornstein completed her residency in pediatrics and a clinical fellowship focusing in child maltreatment at the Hospital for Sick Children. She is Board Certified in the field of Pediatrics and Child Abuse Pediatrics by the American Academy of Pediatrics and is a Fellow and Diplomate of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Pediatrics and Child Maltreatment Pediatrics, respectively.  

Teaching

Dr. Ornstein’s work has been presented at both national and international meetings focusing on both pediatrics and child maltreatment. She is active in education about child abuse and neglect and teaches a wide range of audiences including medical professionals, law enforcement and social workers.

Advocacy

Dr. Ornstein is active in advocacy, with a focus on child abuse/neglect and prevention. She has been a key leader in the vision and development of the SeaStar Child and Youth Advocacy Centre which provides coordinated services children and families who have experienced violence and abuse. She was also instrumental in the establishment of the first provincial child and youth death review committee (Department of Justice).

Selected publications

• Parker, NJ., Elenko, J., Cullen, O., Alaggia, R., Bélanger, R., Biener, C., Binford, W., Blake, M., Collin-Vezina, D., Daignault, I., Hews-Girard, J., Kimber, M., Koshan, J., Madigan, S., Ornstein, A., Price, H., Shaffer, C., Zwicker, J., Dimitropoulos, G. Strengthening Canadian Child and Youth Advocacy Centres Through Coordinated Research and Knowledge Sharing: Establishing a Canadian Research and Knowledge Centre. Child Protection and Practice. December 12, 2024.
• N. Richmond, A. Ornstein, L. Tonmyr, S. Dzakpasu, C. Nelson, N. Pollock, Child maltreatment mortality in Canada: An analysis of coroner and medical examiner data. Child Abuse Negl. 2024 Dec 2;159:107127.
• Ornstein A; Auerbach M; Coombs C; Lindberg D, Magaña J; Sharma S; Tiyyagura G & Translating Emergency Knowledge for Kids (TREKK). (2023). Bottom Line Recommendations: Child Abuse. Retrieved from https://trekk.ca/topic/child-abuse
• Shaffer C, Wolcott, C and Ornstein A Client characteristics and service use at the first hospital-based Canadian Child and Youth Advocacy Center: An analysis of case tracking data. Child and Youth Services Review. (October 19, 2023)
  
  

Selected awards and honours

• IWK Dept. of Pediatrics Leadership Award, September (2024)
• Winner of Award of Excellence at Canadian Pediatric Society (2022). Shannon M. Ornstein A. Exploring the lived experience of non-offending caregivers in pediatric abusive head trauma: a qualitative study
• IWK Board of Directors Award for Leadership- “SeaStar Child and Youth Advocacy Centre” (2016)
• SeaStar CYAC awarded the Irving and Ruth Pink Award for Youth Development and Social Justice from Dalhousie Legal Aid (2016)