Lecture by Canada Gairdner Momentum Award Laureate Dr. Meghan Azad

Dr. Meghan Azad is a Pediatrics and Child Health Professor at the University of Manitoba. She holds a Canada Research Chair in Early Nutrition and the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, and she co-directs the THRiVE Discovery Lab, where her team studies how early life nutrition shapes the infant microbiome and child health. She co-founded the Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre (MILC) and leads several interdisciplinary research teams, including the International Milk Composition (IMiC) Consortium (7 countries, 18 investigators, 1200 mother-infant pairs). In addition, she is Deputy Director of the CHILD Cohort Study, an ongoing longitudinal Canadian birth cohort of 3500 families. This year, she received the Canada Gairdner Momentum Award for researching how human breast milk contributes to shaping the infant microbiome and lifelong health.

While previous studies have often been underpowered, narrowly focused on single milk components, inconsistent in their definition of “breastfeeding”, and limited by confounding (e.g. the socioeconomic status) issues, Dr. Azad’s research is addressing these nuances and shortcomings to provide new insights on how infant feeding practices and hundreds of different breast milk components influence health and disease throughout the life cycle. Studying over 3,000 children, Dr. Azad’s team has shown that longer and more exclusive breastfeeding is associated with healthier body composition and reduced risk of asthma. Further, their studies have provided novel evidence that the method of feeding (i.e. pumping vs. nursing at the breast) matters – possibly because bioactive milk compounds degrade in storage. Indeed, her team found that pump extraction affects the human milk microbiome and bacteria sharing between mothers and infants.

Learn more about Dr. Azad’s research and impact. This lecture is free and open to the public.

The Canada Gairdner Awards

The Gairdner Foundation was established in 1957 with the main goal of recognizing and rewarding international excellence in fundamental research that impacts human health. Annually, eight awards are given: five Canada Gairdner International Awards for biomedical research, one John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award, specifically for impact on global health issues, and two Canada Gairdner Momentum Awards, recognizing mid-career Canadian investigators.

The Faculty of Science at TMU

The Faculty of Science at TMU is a powerhouse of leading-edge applied research and education located in the heart of Downtown Toronto, delivering high-quality education, workforce-ready graduates, and vital research that improves the quality of lives around the globe. Since our inception, we’ve stayed nimble in designing research and academic programs to meet the latest needs of our complex and ever-changing world, with thriving programs in Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Chemistry and Biology ​​— with BSc, MSc and PhD programs in every department.

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