FCE Director
BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute
About Kelly Brown, PhD
Career path
How did you first get involved in immunology?
I took my first immunology class as an undergraduate biochemistry major and was immediately hooked. I was fortunate to complete my undergraduate thesis with Dr. Jamie Scott, using phage-displayed peptide libraries to search for epitopes recognized by HIV-neutralizing antibodies. That project was also my first time working with patient samples—an experience that opened my eyes to the powerful intersection of basic science and clinical care, well before “translational immunology” became a defined field. Those early experiences laid the foundation for my PhD (UBC with Dr. Pauline Johnson) and ultimately shaped my path toward a career in immunological research grounded in patient needs.
Tell us about the research you’re most proud of.
I’m generally proud of our work on ultra-rare, pediatric-onset diseases like chronic systemic vasculitis and deficiency of adenosine deaminase 2 (DADA2). The diseases carry a heavy burden for children, families, and care teams—and have too often been underfunded and understudied due to their rarity. Our research has been shaped and supported by partnerships with my divisional colleagues in the BC Children’s Hospital clinical rheumatology team, patients and families, and Cassie + Friends, a Vancouver-based, grass roots society with a mission to transform the lives of kids and families living with rheumatic diseases. Our research program and progress is an example of what’s possible when patients, researchers, and clinicians work together with a shared purpose.
What advice would you give to young researchers just starting out in the field?
For those just starting out as a translational immunology researcher, one of the most important things you can do is take the time to understand your field from all angles. Read widely—across both scientific and clinical literature—but don’t stop there. Talk to patients, families, and health care providers. Listen to their experiences. It’s one of the most powerful ways to ground your research in what truly matters.
Try not to focus too much on milestones like tenure or publishing in a particular journal. Instead, center your efforts on doing excellent, meaningful research—work that genuinely aims to improve the lives of people living with medical conditions. Celebrate important advances in the field, even when they aren’t your own. When your motivations stay aligned with purpose and impact, the rest will follow.
Surround yourself with like-minded peers and collaborators who share your values and bring joy to the work. These relationships make it easier to weather the inevitable rejections—whether it’s a grant, a paper, or a hypothesis—and they make the successes all the more fulfilling.
Work with FOCIS and FCE's
Switching gears, how did you first get involved with FOCIS?
I first discovered FOCIS as a student while searching for conferences that truly sit at the intersection of clinical and basic science. From the very beginning, it felt like I had found a professional home. Years later, I was fortunate to return as a young investigator, co-leading a Canadian Society for Immunology-sponsored symposium on IL-1β–mediated diseases. That experience reaffirmed just how valuable FOCIS is as a community—one that continues to support and inspire my work in translational immunology.
If your colleague asked you why they should join FOCIS, what would you tell them?
For anyone looking to really accelerate and amplify their research, I would highly recommend getting involved with FOCIS. It’s a great way to connect across disciplines at the annual scientific meeting each June, as well as year round through FOCIS educational programs and outstanding opportunities for collaboration such as the FCE Collaboration Travel Grant. There’s a strong focus on trainees, such as financial support to attend the scientific meeting and the FCE Fusion event, which are great platforms for networking and staying current with cutting-edge research. FOCIS has also been expanding opportunities for continuing education for all level of experience—everything from webinars to top-tier workshops in foundational science and clinical applications. What I find most exciting is how FOCIS helps bridge basic science and clinical care. It gives us a clearer view of the immune system’s role in both health and disease, ultimately moving us closer to precision medicine. It’s an excellent way to stay connected to the bigger picture while still advancing your own specific area of research.
We’re going to talk a little bit now about your FCE. Can you tell us about the research that you’re doing?
A major challenge in pediatric rheumatic diseases is an incomplete understanding of their core pathophysiology. Consequently, treatment often relies on broad immunosuppression, less effective small molecules, or costly biologics. Compounding this, standardized and pediatric-validated measures of disease activity remain imperfect or lacking, making it harder to guide treatment effectively.
My research aims to change this by enabling evidence-based, personalized care for children with rheumatic diseases—care that can improve disease control, reduce hospitalizations, and support better long-term health. Towards this, our research aims to: (1) classify patients based on underlying mechanisms rather than symptoms, and (2) identify quantifiable markers of disease (i.e., inflammation) that enable staging at onset and continuous monitoring over disease course. We use a bedside-to-bench approach, analyzing patient samples collected during routine care to guide mechanistic studies in the lab. Our primary areas of focus are chronic systemic vasculitis and autoinflammatory syndromes.
Since 2012, I’ve co-led the Pediatric Vasculitis (PedVas) Initiative—an international network of over 40 centers. Together, we’ve built the largest pediatric vasculitis data and biosample repository to date. Our studies have provided some of the first pediatric-specific insights into disease biology and biomarker utility, particularly in vasculitis-related kidney disease. Two of our recent publications on this topic have helped bring much-needed attention to these rare conditions. For more on this and other aspects of our research, visit: Brown Lab
What is the vision/your dream goal of your FCE? What are the specific goals as the FCE Director?
I was honored to step into the role of FCE Director early this year following a decade of leadership by FOCIS President-Elect Dr. Megan Levings. Our Institute’s FCE journey was sparked by an interdisciplinary research project – the SLE-Diabetes Study –to find common mechanisms of autoimmunity and, coincidentally, was co-led by clinician-scientists in my division of rheumatology, working alongside specialists in endocrinology, immunology, microbiology, and infectious diseases.
This collaborative vision to advance human health through integrated science remains central to activities at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHRI). Located on the campus of BC Children’s Hospital and academically affiliated with the University of British Columbia, BCCHRI is the largest research institute of its kind in Western Canada. Our community of more than 1,200 investigators is dedicated to discovering and implementing solutions for diseases that begin in childhood—spanning basic, clinical, and population health research. BCCHR houses key resources that support this mission, including a biobank for pediatric biospecimens (BCCHR Biobank), a national platform for standardized human immunology protocols (CAN-ASC), a leading microbiome core facility (Gut4Health), cross-cutting precision health initiative (PHI), and a newly launched UBC-based Autoimmune Biomedical Collaborative (ABC Cluster). We are also proud to offer a unique graduate program in Women+ and Children’s Health Sciences (WACH) that includes competency-based training and foundational learning in Indigenous health, systemic health inequities, and inclusive research practices.
As FCE Director for our site, I aim to continue fostering a culture of collaboration and research excellence in child health, strengthen partnerships with other FCEs—particularly in cross-disciplinary research that reflects the complexity of immune-mediated diseases—and, through the formalization of translational immunology training, equip the next generation of researchers with the skills to integrate molecular insights with diagnostics, therapeutics, and real-world outcomes. I look forward to working together to build a strong, connected FCE community committed to research, education, and care. Please don’t hesitate to reach out—I’d love to connect around research and training initiatives.
What are your biggest challenges?
This is an exciting time in immunology with the emergence of advanced cellular therapies and powerful tools that allow us not only to interrogate but actively modulate the immune system in ways that were previously unimaginable. These advances are being driven by interdisciplinary collaboration, combining insights from across disciplines to tackle questions we couldn’t even ask before. Yet, paradoxically, we’re seeing a decline in the number of students pursuing careers in academia. It’s more important than ever to create clear, supported pathways for the next generation. We need to show them that this is not only a viable career option, but one that is deeply rewarding—both intellectually and in terms of real-world impact.
Those are all the questions for today, thank you for your time.