Charis completed 2 undergraduate degrees from Queen’s University before receiving her Masters of Nursing and Nurse Practitioner designation in 2004. She has worked at SickKids since 2000 transitioning from bedside nurse, to Nurse Educator and has been the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in the Burn/Plastic Surgery Program since 2007.
Charis provides comprehensive care to pediatric burn patients and their families throughout the entire continuum of care. She utilizes her expertise afforded to her as an NP to coordinate inpatient care as well as discharging patients efficiently. She ensures families are well transitioned to the outpatient setting. Charis is highly skilled at providing pain and anxiety management for this vulnerable population ensuring optimal quality of care. She independently leads her own Nurse Practitioner Burn Clinic where she effectively cares for her patients and families ensuring all Burn Team members provide needed services. She focuses on treating the pediatric burn population as well as children with complex wounds and skin conditions. She has played a valuable role having SickKids recognized as the first Verified Pediatric Burn Program in Canada as well as the creation of the Laser Therapy Program for Burn Scar Modulation, making SickKids the first pediatric facility to provide this therapy in Canada.
Charis is on the Pain Matters Committee; additionally she is a member of the RNAO, NPAO and American Burn Association. She is Chair of the Burn Prevention Outreach Committee at SickKids where she has spearheaded prevention materials such as a video news release which has been translated into a variety of languages as well as a poster which won the People’s Choice Award at the 2013 ABA Conference. Charis’s contributions have been recognized locally by her peers as well as provincially having received the 2012 Grace Evelyn Simpson Reeves Excellence Award in APN Category and the 2013 Toronto Star Nightingale Award.
