Beyond Single Data Points: Building Truly Personalized Mental Health Care for Kids

What if we could predict the best mental health treatment for every child? In the first episode of Precision Rewired, Dr. Kathleen Pajer, Medical Director, PCYMH Collaboratory at the CHEO Research Institute, speaks with Dr. Paul Arnold, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Calgary and lead of the PAN-GEM initiative about a major step toward truly personalized mental health care for children and youth. Dr. Arnold shares how PAN-GEM is bringing together genome sequencing, environmental insights, and clinical data from 11 large Canadian studies - uniting experts in psychiatric genetics, pharmacogenetics, data science, and health policy to better understand how mental health conditions develop and evolve. 💡 Key takeaway: This work moves us beyond one-size-fits-all care toward precision mental health, where treatment can be tailored to each child’s unique biology and lived experience. In this episode: How genetics and environment shape mental health outcomes Why pan-Canadian collaboration is critical to innovation The role of AI and data in improving care What the future of personalized psychiatry could look like for families 🎧 Precision Rewired is a limited series from the CHEO Research Institute’s Precision Child and Youth Mental Health (PCYMH) Collaboratory, featuring leaders advancing mental health care through data and innovation. 🔔 Subscribe for more episodes on precision mental health, child psychiatry, and health care innovation