What will the future of child and youth mental health care look like?
The CHEO Research Institute's Precision Child and Youth Mental Health (PCYMH) Collaboratory is launching Precision Rewired, a new six-episode podcast series hosted by Dr. Kathleen Pajer, Medical Director of the PCYMH Collaboratory.
With a new episode released every two weeks, the series will feature leading researchers and innovators from across Canada exploring how data, artificial intelligence, genomics, and lived experience are helping reshape mental health care for children and youth.
As mental health challenges among young people continue to grow, researchers are working to move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches to care. Precision Rewired offers an accessible look at the discoveries, technologies, and collaborations that are helping make more personalized, data-informed care possible.
Throughout the series, listeners will hear from experts working at the forefront of precision mental health, tackling questions such as:
* How can genetics, environmental factors, and real-world data be integrated to improve care?
* What role can AI play in supporting earlier intervention and better outcomes?
* How can research and care become more personalized, equitable, and effective for children, youth, and families?
You can listen to Precision Rewired on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Youtube
AI, Digital Twins and the Future of Precision Mental Health: A Conversation with Giovanni Briganti
Can artificial intelligence help transform mental health care for children and youth?
In this episode of Precision Rewired, Dr. Kathleen Pajer sits down with Giovanni Briganti, Chair of AI and Digital Medicine at the University of Mons in Belgium, to discuss how AI is shaping the future of precision psychiatry. From digital twins that provide a more complete picture of a patient's health to the growing influence of AI chatbots and predictive tools, this conversation explores the promise, risks, and real-world applications of AI in mental health research, clinical care, and education.
Read the full transcript here: https://share.descript.com/view/caWpABrYEtn (https://share.descript.com/view/caWpABrYEtn)
2 Sept 2026
Social Prescribing – Turning Mental Health Goals into Action with Dr. Nicole Racine
What if a prescription could include joining a soccer team, music lessons, an art program, or time in nature?
In this episode of Precision Rewired, Dr. Kathleen Pajer speaks with Dr. Nicole Racine, Clinical Psychologist and Scientist at the CHEO Research Institute and Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, about social prescribing and its role in precision child and youth mental health. Social prescribing connects children and families with community-based activities and supports that reflect their strengths, interests, and goals, helping turn mental health goals into meaningful action.
Dr. Racine also explores green social prescribing – an emerging approach that encourages children and youth to connect with nature to support wellbeing, reduce stress, and strengthen social connections. Together, they discuss how social prescribing can complement traditional mental health care and help build healthier, more connected communities for children and families.
Read the full transcript here: https://share.descript.com/view/LbZx3wRMIya (https://share.descript.com/view/LbZx3wRMIya)
21 Aug 2026
Building Learning Health Systems for Mental Health
How can better data lead to better mental health care at the individual and systems level?
In this episode of Precision Rewired, Dr. Peter Zandi, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, explores how measurement-based care is transforming mental health research and treatment. Drawing on his work in psychiatric genetics, epidemiology, and health systems innovation, Dr. Zandi explains how routinely collecting patient-reported outcomes can improve clinical decision-making and support more personalized care.
Learn how measurement-based care is helping build learning health systems that connect research and clinical practice, and how patient data is advancing the future of precision mental health.
Listen on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Read the full transcript here: https://share.descript.com/view/pqi4e89PWWG (https://share.descript.com/view/pqi4e89PWWG)
21 Aug 2026
Seeing Patterns Earlier: Genetics and Childhood Mental Health
How can genetic information help identify mental health and developmental risks earlier in childhood?
In this episode of Precision Rewired, Dr. Jacob Vorstman, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Senior Scientist, Genetics & Genome Biology at SickKids, and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, explores how advances in genetics are creating new opportunities to recognize developmental and mental health risks earlier in life and better support children and families. Through his work leading DAGSY (Developmental Assessment of Genetically Susceptible Youth), Dr. Vorstman is helping translate genetic discoveries into practical clinical insights.
Learn how genetics-informed assessments can help clinicians better understand a child's unique strengths and support needs, and why earlier insight may help families navigate uncertainty and access more targeted interventions sooner.
From rare genetic variants to individualized risk prediction, this conversation explores the potential of precision mental health to shift care from reacting to challenges after they emerge toward identifying opportunities for support earlier, while opening new directions for research, assessment, and care.
Listen on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Read the full transcript here: https://share.descript.com/view/rQa29alpjBI
24 Jul 2026
How can genetics and data improve care for kids before symptoms even appear?
How can AI be applied to routinely collected health data as a systematic screening tool in areas of neurodevelopment health like autism spectrum disorder (ASD)?
In this episode of Precision Rewired, Dr. Christine Armour, Investigator at the CHEO Research Institute and Clinical Geneticist at CHEO, explores how population-based pregnancy and early childhood health data can be used in innovative ways to improve the early recognition of ASD.
Learn how deep learning is being applied to large-scale health data to explore whether it is possible to systematically identify children who may be at increased likelihood of an ASD diagnosis, with the goal of improving access to assessment, support, and care for children and families.
From translating research into policy to improving population-based screening across Ontario, Dr. Armour shares how research is helping create more informed, equitable, and proactive health systems.
Listen on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Read the full transcript here: https://share.descript.com/view/aFGAqbkO7da (https://share.descript.com/view/aFGAqbkO7da)
8 Jul 2026
Beyond Single Data Points: Building Truly Personalized Mental Health Care for Kids
How do we move from generalized diagnoses to truly personalized mental health care for children and youth?
In the first episode of Precision Rewired, host Dr. Kathleen Pajer speaks with Dr. Paul Arnold, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Calgary and Principal Investigator of the PAN-GEM initiative (Pan-Canadian Initiative Linking Genomic, Environmental and Mental Health Data in Children and Youth).
Dr. Arnold unpacks a major national effort to transform care by combining genome sequencing with clinical and environmental data from 11 large Canadian studies. This collaborative initiative brings together experts in psychiatric genetics, pharmacogenetics, data science, and health policy, alongside diverse youth populations, to better understand how mental health conditions develop and progress.
Together, they explore how this work is advancing precision mental health care—where treatment moves beyond single data points and is tailored to each child's unique biology, lived experience, and environment.
In this episode, you'll learn:
How genomics + environmental data are reshaping child and youth mental health care
Why large-scale, pan-Canadian collaboration is critical to innovation
The importance of inclusive research across diverse populations
How AI and data are helping clinicians deliver the right care at the right time
If you're interested in precision psychiatry, child mental health innovation, genomics, or AI in healthcare, this episode is a must-listen.
You can read the full transcript here (https://share.descript.com/view/FXnUA0oRE81)
About Dr. Paul Arnold
Dr. Paul Arnold is a prominent figure in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry, with a focus on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders. He is the inaugural Director of the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education at the University of Calgary and holds the Alberta Innovates Health Solutions (AIHS) Translational Research Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health. His research is centered on the genetics of childhood psychiatric disorders, particularly OCD, and he has been funded by major external grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Arnold is also a Staff Psychiatrist within the Department of Psychiatry at SickKids and the head of the Anxiety Disorders Program.
8 Jul 2026
Introducing Precision Rewired with Dr. Kathleen Pajer
Dr. Kathleen Pajer, Director of the Precision Child and Youth Mental Health Collaboratory at the CHEO Research Institute, Senior Scientist at CHEO, and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa, introduces Precision Rewired, a limited series podcast focused on major advances in precision child and youth mental health. Drawing on more than a decade of work addressing the limitations of one-size-fits-all treatments, she describes building an innovative collaboratory that combines neuroscience, big data, and lived experience to identify treatments tailored to each individual. The series features conversations with researchers, clinicians, and innovators reshaping what's possible for children and families, including discussions on how data, AI, and measurement-based care are transforming mental health treatment and care. Precision Rewired is available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
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