Canada Research Chair in Youth Mental Health and Director of the Advancing Research in Children's Health Lab at the University of Waterloo.

Joined October 2014
27 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
18 Dec 2025
Honoured to deliver the 2025 Carol Buck Lecture at @WesternU! Presented updated findings from @arch_lab’s MY LIFE study on child physical-mental #multimorbidity—prevalence, determinants, & prevention strategies that can inform policy and improve outcomes. bit.ly/4j1JKLU

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18 Dec 2025
📊 New study in Psychiatry Research validates the Ontario Child Health Study Emotional Behavioural Scales (OCHS-EBS) in clinical settings: ✅ Large sample: 3,000 caregivers & 1,900 #youth ✅ Strong reliability & validity 🔗 bit.ly/48LYkUA #Psychometrics #MentalHealth

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12 Dec 2025
📢 New @ARCH_Lab pub: How well do #parents and #kids agree on #mentalhealth when chronic physical illness is involved? Agreement improves over time—and parent experience with their own mental health matters! Read more 👉bit.ly/48JvzGF #ChildHealth

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9 Dec 2025
New from @ARCH_Lab's MY LIFE Study🧠Mental health problems in kids with chronic physical illness are common & persistent. After 4 yrs, up to 39% had #anxiety, #depression, #ADHD or behavior problems. Integrated care is essential‼️bit.ly/3MssWld #ChildHealth #MentalHealth

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13 Nov 2025
📢 New from ARCH Lab ➡️ bit.ly/4nSm2CI: #Youth 15–17 with #multimorbidity face significantly higher risks of suicidality: 🔹 44% felt hopeless 🔹28% had suicidal thoughts 🔹19% attempted #suicide Support must be inclusive & family-centered

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Mark Ferro retweeted
Pleased to return to Twitter/X to promote a recently published article in The Lancet Psychiatry. Our team recently demonstrated (via meta-analysis) prospective, longitudinal relationships between negative family dynamics and self-harm and suicidality in children and adolescents.
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Mark Ferro retweeted
Loss to follow up (LFU) rates of patients who attended the @mch_childrens Pediatric Rheumatology Transition Clinic were only 29%. Improved LFU rates may lead to improved long-term outcomes. journals.lww.com/jclinrheum/…
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Mark Ferro retweeted
This is a huge accomplishment - and unquestionably changing the futures of young people with rheumatic diseases for the better! Congrats and thanks.
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22 Sep 2025
📢 New @ARCH_Lab study finds 1 in 10 🇨🇦 kids experience #multimorbidity (physical mental/neurodev disorders). Risk factors: teen age, caregiver #stress & #mentalhealth. Implications for screening & family-centered care: bit.ly/4gA381F @UWaterlooSPHS @uwaterloohealth

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Mark Ferro retweeted
New data shows that hair cortisol levels can reveal chronic stress patterns in children with chronic illness. bit.ly/42BRq0m
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Mark Ferro retweeted
Replying to @PsychiatristCNS
This is a fascinating area of research! Hair cortisol levels provide a non-invasive way to assess long-term stress exposure, which could greatly aid in understanding how chronic illness impacts children over time. It leads me to wonder how this method could be integrated into regular medical screenings. Could these findings eventually influence treatment plans or early interventions for stress management in pediatric care? For anyone interested in diving deeper into this topic or similar biomedical discussions, check out sciqst.com. It's a one-stop platform to explore detailed biomedical questions and create comprehensive reviews. #Medicine

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19 Sep 2025
Thank you for profiling our work! @emma_littler5 @ARCH_Lab @UWaterlooSPHS @uwaterloohealth
New data shows that hair cortisol levels can reveal chronic stress patterns in children with chronic illness. bit.ly/42BRq0m
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Mark Ferro retweeted
#ThrowbackThursday - ⬆️ New Canadian study, published in Stress and Health, suggests that something as simple as a hair sample could be the key to better understanding how stress hormones influence their #mentalhealth. #anxiety #stress
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17 Sep 2025
Thank you for profiling our work. @emma_littler5 @UWaterlooSPHS @uwaterloohealth
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12 Sep 2025
New @arch_lab research finds specific #inflammatory markers in blood predict greater #mentalhealth challenges in kids with chronic #physicalillness🩸Early screening could change the care trajectory bit.ly/46gP3kL @UWaterlooSPHS @ExMedDr

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11 Sep 2025
✂️🧠 New paper by @arch_lab's @emma_littler5 shows stress leaves a mark—in kids’ hair. Those with chronic illness and chronically high cortisol had ⬆️#mentalhealth symptoms; hair cortisol a useful tool for early mental health intervention bit.ly/4panZMG @UWaterlooSPHS

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Mark Ferro retweeted
28 Aug 2025
Researchers have found that certain immune markers in the blood are linked to internalizing and externalizing symptoms in chronically ill children. The study adds to growing evidence that inflammation may shape psychological outcomes in pediatric… dlvr.it/TMl3sc
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