Lara Leijser is a Pediatrician-Neonatologist and early-career Clinician Scientist in the Department of Pediatrics, section of Neonatology, at the University of Calgary. Lara received her medical and master’s in biomedical sciences degrees from Leiden University, The Netherlands. After graduation, she completed a PhD on imaging of the preterm infant’s brain at Leiden University and Imperial College London, United Kingdom, followed by residency training in Pediatrics in The Netherlands. She then went on to complete clinical and research fellowships in Neonatology and Neonatal Neurology at the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital, The Netherlands, and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Lara has a long-standing clinical and research interest in brain injury and development and related long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in vulnerable neonatal populations, resulting in multiple peer-reviewed publications in this field. Besides her clinical work as Neonatologist, she is an active member of the Calgary Neonatal Neuro-Critical Care team, striving for excellence in clinical care and research in Neonatal Neurology. Lara’s current research team and program focuses on increasing the understanding of brain injury and development and their relationship with long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in vulnerable neonatal populations, using advanced and novel brain imaging and monitoring tools. This to inform new clinical and therapeutic approaches to improve brain health and neurodevelopmental outcomes for preterm infants and their families worldwide.