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    Canada Research Chair

  • Meghan Azad
  • Professor

    Max Rady College of Medicine
    Pediatrics and Child Health
    Room 501G - 715 McDermot Avenue
    University of Manitoba
    Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 3P4

    Phone: 204-975-7754
    meghan.azad@umanitoba.ca

Cross-appointments

  • Professor, Community Health Sciences
  • Associate professor, Immunology
  • Adjunct professor, Food and Human Nutritional Sciences

Research summary

Research summary

Dr. Azad’s research team studies how experiences in utero and during infancy shape lifelong health, focusing on infant growth and resilience in low and middle-income settings, and chronic conditions affecting children worldwide – including asthma, allergies, obesity and diabetes.

Her research program incorporates administrative database studies, human birth cohorts, and collaboration with basic scientists to establish animal models and explore biological mechanisms.

Her current projects focus on maternal nutrition, breastfeeding, human milk composition and the infant microbiome.

Dr. Azad’s ultimate goal is to prevent chronic disease and promote healthy growth through evidence-informed interventions during critical periods of early development.

Biography

Dr. Meghan Azad is a professor of pediatrics and child health at the University of Manitoba.

She holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Developmental Origins of Chronic Disease and co-directs the new Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre (MILC).

Her research program is focused on the role of infant nutrition and the microbiome in child growth, development and resilience.

Dr. Azad is the deputy director of the CHILD Cohort Study, a national pregnancy cohort following 3500 children to understand how early life experiences shape lifelong health.

She is leading a clinical trial to improve matching procedures for preterm neonates receiving donor human milk, and directing the new International Milk Composition (IMiC) Consortium.

Her research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Dr. Azad serves on the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation Executive Council and the joint US/Canada Human Milk Composition Initiative.

She was named among Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women in 2020, and received the 2018 International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation Erlich-Koldovsky New Investigator Award.

Education

Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship in Pediatrics, University of Alberta 

Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba

Master of Science in Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene 

Bachelor of Science with Honors in Biochemistry, University of Winnipeg

Awards

2020:

WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner

Ken Hughes Young Investigator Award in Medical Research

Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation Joe Doupe Young Investigator Award

International Milk Genomics Consortium Outstanding Mid-Career Investigator Award

2019:

Terry G. Falconer Memorial Rh Institute Foundation Emerging Research Award

AllerGen NCE Michelle Harkness Mentorship Award for Mentoring Excellence

2018:

International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation (ISRHML) Ehrlich-Koldovsky Award

2017:

University of London 150th Anniversary Prize

CBC Manitoba Future 40 Award recognizing outstanding professional and service contributions

2014:

CIHR Lindau Prize - One of three Canadians nominated to attend the 64th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting

2013-2015:

Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship - Ranked 2nd nationally in the health research stream

Dr. Meghan Azad In the news

Contact us

Pediatrics and Child Health
CE-208 Children's Hospital, Health Sciences Centre
840 Sherbrook Street
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB R3A 1S1 Canada

204-787-8020
204-787-4807