Melissa Parker

Professor, Pediatrics

Dr. Parker is a Professor of Pediatrics, and Associate Member of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact at McMaster University. She is Board Certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, and Pediatric Emergency Medicine and holds a Master's of Science in Health Research Methodology. Her clinical and research interests focus on pediatric acute care including resuscitation interventions and algorithms, resuscitation quality improvement, and the ethical conduct of resuscitation research.

Dr. Parker has been supported by career awards from Canadian Blood Services, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program, and Hamilton Health Sciences. She recently completed a CIHR funded multicentre randomized controlled trial evaluating two resuscitation treatment strategies in early septic shock management, including translational and qualitative research collaborations.  She is an active member of the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group (CCCTG) and Pediatric Emergency Research Canada (PERC), and sought out internationally for her expertise as a grant panel member and to serve on clinical trial Data Safety and Monitoring Boards.

One of Dr. Parker’s interests is the mentorship and support of early career researchers. She currently serves as McMaster Centre Leader for Empowering Next-Generation Researchers in Perinatal and Child Health (ENRICH), and by invitation is a mentor for the clinical trials training platform Increasing Impact in Maternal and Paediatrics Trials (IMPACT).  From 2018-2024 she served as an Institute Advisory Board Member for the CIHR Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health. In 2022 she was appointed Division Head of the Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at McMaster University.