Jessica Omand

Jessica Omand is an assistant professor with the School of Nutrition, paediatric researcher, and member of the College of Dietitians of Ontario. Omand holds an MSc and PhD from the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto and completed three years of a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Child Health Evaluative Sciences at the Hospital for Sick Children. Her research is focused on primary prevention of childhood diseases in Canada through nutritional interventions focussed on early life. During her PhD, Omand led the inaugural linkage of the TARGet Kids! database, the largest primary care practice based research network for children in Canada, with health administrative data at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. Using these linked datasets, she examined whether vitamin D was associated with health service utilization for respiratory diseases. Omand is currently involved in many collaborative projects focused on nutrition in early life, both dietary intake and eating behaviours, and various school outcomes (children’s readiness to start school, parent-reported performance in school, and academic achievement). During her training she has received funding support from CIHR (MSc and doctoral awards) as well as local and national Clinician Scientist Training funding. 

Undergraduate courses:

• FNP 100 Professional Practice
• FNR 100 Introduction to Research and Statistics
• FNP 350 Interpersonal Communication/Counseling Nutrition

Graduate courses:

• NC 8102 Understanding Health Behaviour
• NC 8300 Professional Practice 

• Health behaviours in early childhood
• Nutrition interventions
• School outcomes 
• Growth and learning trajectories

Journal articles:

• Omand JA, Xuedi Li, Keown Stoneman CDG, Borkhoff C, Duku E, Janus M, Lebovic G, Maguire JL, Mamdani M, Parkin PC, Reid-Westoby C, Simpson JR, Tremblay M, Birken CS. 2021. Association of body mass index and weight status with school readiness in early childhood. Childhood Obesity. doi: 10.1089/chi.2022.0018. July 13, 2022.
• Vanderloo LM. Omand JA, Keown-Stoneman CDG, Janus M, Tremblay MS, Maguire JL, Borkhoff CM, Lebovic G, Parkin P, Mamdani M, Simson JR, Duku E, Birken CS. Children’s Screen Use and School Readiness at 4-6 Years: Prospective Cohort Study. BMC Public Health: 22 (383). doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12629-8. Accepted January 18, 2022.
• Omand JA, Janus M, Maguire JL, Parkin PC, Simpson JR, Keown-Stoneman CDG, Aglipay M, Birken CS. 2021. Nutritional risk in early childhood and school readiness. Journal of Nutrition. Accepted May 17, 2021.
• Vanderloo LM. Omand JA, Keown-Stoneman CDG, Janus M, Tremblay MS, Maguire JL, Borkhoff CM, Lebovic G, Parkin P, Mamdani M, Simson JR, Duku E, Birken CS. Association Between Physical Activity, Screen Time and Sleep, and School Readiness in Canadian Children Aged 4 to 6 Years. J Dev Behav Pediatr. Accepted Aug 11, 2021.
• Sharpe I, Kirkpatrick S, Smith BT, Keown-Stoneman CDG, Omand JA, Vanderhout S, Maguire JL, Birken CS, Anderson LN. Automated Self-Administered 24-hour Dietary Assessment Tool (ASA24) recalls for parent proxy-reporting of children’s intake (>4 years of age): A feasibility study. Pilot and Feasibility Studies. Accepted June 2, 2021.
• Li X, Keown-Stoneman CDG, Lebovic G, Maguire JL, Omand JA, Sievenpiper JL, Birken CS. 2020. Body mass index mediates the association between growth trajectories and cardiometabolic risk in children. Childhood obesity. doi: 10.1089/chi.2020.0143. Accepted January 17, 2021.
• Omand JA, Janus M, Maguire JL, Parkin PC, Randall Simpson J, Keown-Stoneman CDG, Birken CS. 2021. Nutritional risk in early childhood and later school concerns. Public Health Nutrition. doi: 10.1017/S1368980021001725. Accepted May 31, 2019.
• Vanderhout SM, Aglipay M, Birken CS, Li P, O’Connor DL, Thorpe KE, Constantin E, Davis MA, Feldman M, Ball GDC, Janus M, Jüni P, Junker A, Laupacis A, L’Abbe M, Manson H, Moretti ME, Persaud N, Omand J, Relton C, Wong P, Yamashiro H, Tavares E, Weir S, Maguire JL. Cow’s Milk Fat Obesity pRevention Trial (CoMFORT): a primary care embedded randomised controlled trial to determine the effect of cow’s milk fat on child adiposity. BMJ Open; 10:e035241. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035241. May 7, 2020.
• Anderson LN, van den Heuvel M, Omand JA, Wong PD. Practical tips for paediatricians: Baby-led weaning. Paediatr Child Health: 25(2): 77-78. doi: 10.1093/pch/pxz069. March 25, 2020.
• Li X, Keown-Stoneman CDG, Lebovic G, Omand JA, Adeli K, Hamilton JK, Hanley AJ, Mamdani M, McCrindle BW, Sievenpiper JL, Tremblay MS, Maguire JL, Parkin PC, Birken CS. The association between body mass index trajectories and cardiometabolic risk in young children. Pediatr Obes. Mar 17:e12633. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.12633. August 15, 2020.
• Birken CS, Omand JA, Nurse KM, Borkhoff CM, Koroshegyi C, Lebovic G, Maguire JL, Mamdani M, Parkin PC, Randall Simpson J, Tremblay MS, Duku E, Reid-Westoby C, Janus M. Fit for School Study protocol: early child growth, health behaviours, nutrition, cardiometabolic risk and developmental determinants of a child's school readiness, a prospective cohort. BMJ Open. 9(11):e030709. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030709. November 19, 2019.
• Omand JA, Maguire JL, O'Connor DL, Parkin PC, Birken CS, Thorpe KE, Zhu J, To T. Agreement between a health claims algorithm and parent-reported asthma in young children. Pediatric Pulmonolgy. 54(10):1547-1556. doi: 10.1002/ppul.24432. July 22, 2019.
• Wong VCH, Maguire JL, Omand JA, Dai DWH, Lebovic G, Parkin PC, O’Connor DL, Birken CS. A Positive Association Between Dietary Intake of Higher Cow's Milk-Fat Percentage and Non-High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Young Children. J Pediatr. Aug;211:105-111.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2019.03.047. August 1, 2019.
• Omand JA, To T, O'Connor DL, Parkin PC, Birken CS, Thorpe KE, Maguire JL. 25-hydroxyvitamin D and health service utilization for asthma in early childhood. Pediatric Pulmonology: 53(8): 1018-1026. doi:10.1002/ppul.24067. June 15, 2018.
• Fuller A, Maguire JL, Carsley S, Chen Y, Lebovic G, Omand J, Parkin P, Birken CS on behalf of the TARGet Kids! Collaboration. Parent reported difficulty buying food, BMI, and eating habits in young children. Canadian Journal of Public Health: 108 (5-6). January 22, 2018.
• Omand JA, To T, O'Connor DL, Parkin PC, Birken CS, Thorpe KE, Maguire JL. 25-hydroxyvitmain D, vitamin D supplementation and health service utilization for upper respiratory tract infections in young children. Public Health Nutrition: 20(10): 1816-1824. June 5, 2017.
• Anderson LN, Chen Y, Omand JA, Birken CS, Parkin PC, To T, Maguire JL on behalf of the TARGet Kids Collaboration. Vitamin D exposure during pregnancy, but not early childhood, is associated with risk of childhood wheezing. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. 6(4): 308-316. April 17, 2015.
• Omand JA, Carsley S, Darling PB, Parkin PC, Birken CS, Urquia ML, Khovratovich M, Maguire JL. Measuring ethnicity in children: a geographic approach. Annals of Epidemiology. 24(4): 246-253. June 1, 2013.
• Omand JA, Darling PB, Parking PC, Birken CS, Khovratovich M, Thorpe KE, Carsley S, DeGroot J, Maguire JL. Non-Western immigrant children have lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D than children from Western born families. Public Health Nutrition. 1-8. May 24, 2013.

• Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program (CCHCSP) Post-doctoral fellowship, Hospital for Sick Children, 2019 – 2023.
• Clinician Scientist Training Program (CSTP), Post-doctoral fellowship through the Research Training Center (RTC), The Hospital for Sick Children, 2018 – 2020.  
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) doctoral research award, St. Michael’s Hospital, 2014 – 2018.
• Clinician Scientist Training Program (CSTP) through the Research Training Center (RTC) doctoral research award, The Hospital for Sick Children, 2014 – 2018.
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) master’s award priority pool, nutrition, and dietetic research, SHOPP (associated with Canadian Foundation for Dietetic Research), St. Michael’s Hospital, 2011 – 2012.