Manon Ranger

PhD, RN

Bio

Dr. Manon Ranger (She, her) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia and a Clinician Scientist with the Acute Pain Service at BC Children’s Hospital. Dr. Ranger has extensive clinical expertise in pediatric pain management with a robust research background, marked by collaborations with multidisciplinary clinicians and researchers. She leads a translational research program at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, bridging preclinical investigations with clinical studies, focusing on preterm neonates undergoing intensive neonatal care to uncover mechanisms of vulnerability to early adversity (stress/pain, related treatments) in relation to brain development. She also investigates methods to mitigate the adverse effects of these events using various technologies, such as EEG.

Profile

Educational Background

BSc (Nursing), University of Montreal
MSc (Nursing), University of Montreal
PhD (Nursing), McGill University
Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of British Columbia

Affiliations

Clinician Scientist, PainCare 360 & Palliative Care Program, BC Children’s Hospital & Women’s Hospital
Associate Member, Pediatrics (Div. of Neonatology) 
Associate Member Graduate Programs in Neuroscience and Women+ and Children's Health
Investigator, Healthy Starts, BC Children's Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR)
Member, Women's Health Research Institute; Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health
 

Area of Research

My research program, conducted at the BC Children's Research Institute, aims at investigating how early-life adversity (such as stress, pain, inflammation, and clinical treatments) affects the developing brain of very preterm infants, using an animal model that closely captures critical aspects of what preterm infants are like and what they may experience in the NICU. The use of preclinical models allows mechanistic studies on how exposure to early-life adversity alters the normal trajectory of brain development. This research, in turn, better informs clinical studies in preterm infants and the development of novel treatments to mitigate adverse effects from these exposures.

This work is motivated by my clinical nursing background as a paediatric clinical nurse specialist in acute pain, and builds upon my doctoral training in infant brain reactivity to pain (McGill University/Harvard University/Boston Children’s Hospital) and postdoctoral fellowship in pediatrics/neuroscience at UBC, as well as my recent work as a research scientist at Columbia University in the division of Developmental Neuroscience.

Current Projects

• Determining the neuroprotective effects of Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 on neurodevelopmental impairments related to neonatal pain and sucrose-induced inflammatory stress 
• Improving pain management for patients with fractures with deformity in the Emergency Department
• Ambulatory continuous peripheral nerve blocks for postoperative pain management: a retrospective chart review
• Withdrawal in patients exposed to Dexmedetomidine (Alpha-2 agonist) in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
• Calmer Brains: A Pilot Randomized Trial to Explore Structural and Functional Brain Development in Preterm Infants
• Discovering the Calmer Neural Network in Preterm Infants in the NICU 

Completed Projects

• Improving access to pediatric symptom management: Engaging and educating health care practitioners to improve lives for children with serious illness in Nepal

Publications

US National Library of Medicine
National Center for Biotechnology Information
My Bibliography

Teaching

My teaching focuses on areas related to paediatric health, more precisely in infancy with a special interest in prematurity, as well as developmental neuroscience, both within nursing and from an interdisciplinary perspective. Paediatric pain is an additional area of teaching/research expertise. To date my teaching efforts have been mainly on research methods and evidence-based practice. My goal is to get students engaged in research by not only increasing their knowledge but also by sparking their interest in this important aspect of nursing practice.

Supervisor Eligibility

MHLP, MN, MSN - thesis, MSN - non-thesis, PhD