The MILC Research Group

​Dr. Meghan Azad, PhD | MILC Director & MILC Club Chair
​Overall Direction of MILC
Dr. Azad is a Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health at the University of Manitoba, where she holds the Canada Research Chair in Early Life Nutrition and the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. Her research focuses on the role of infant nutrition and the microbiome in shaping child growth, development, and resilience. Dr. Azad directs the Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre (MILC) and leads the International Milk Composition (IMiC) Consortium, a network advancing multi-omic studies of human milk. She also serves as Knowledge Mobilization Co-Chair for the CHILD Cohort Study, a national pregnancy cohort following 3,500 Canadian children to understand how early life experiences influence lifelong health. Dr. Azad's research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the US National Institutes of Health, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the Gates Foundation. She serves on the Canadian Breastfeeding Research Network Advisory Board and on the United States and Canada Human Milk Composition Initiative. She is a Fellow of the CIFAR Humans and the Microbiome Program and an elected member of the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars. Dr. Azad's work has been recognized with awards including the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation Erlich-Koldovsky Early Career Investigator Award (2018), the International Human Milk Genomics Mid-Career Investigator Award (2020), WXN Canada Top 100 Most Powerful Women (2020), Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 (2021), the Steacie Prize (2023), and the Gairdner Momentum Award (2024). In 2025, she and MILC were nominated for the Governor General’s Innovation Award.
Dr. Karinne Cardoso Muniz, MD | MILC Club Coordinator
Coordination of MILC Club Activities
​Dr. Muniz coordinates the monthly MILC Club meetings. She is a Pediatrician specializing in Neonatology, with years of experience in newborn care acquired in Brazil. Currently pursuing an MSc in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at the University of Manitoba, she combines her clinical expertise with a research-oriented approach to contribute to breastfeeding and human milk knowledge.​
Shayna Giesbrecht, MSc | MILC Biorepository Lab Manager
Lab Management and Sample Analysis
Shayna holds an MSc in Microbiology from the University of Manitoba and has over seven years of laboratory experience working with a wide range of research organisms, including plants, fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Her graduate research focused on developing molecular assays to detect and quantify sexually transmitted blood-borne infections in wastewater, with a particular emphasis on human papillomavirus (HPV). She has also developed and validated additional assays for quantifying, genotyping, and next-generation sequencing of pathogens such as mpox, SARS-CoV-2, and measles virus using wastewater samples, helping to strengthen wastewater-based testing as a tool for monitoring community health and improving response times to emerging outbreaks.
Alie Johnston, MSc | MILC Study Coordinator (on leave)
Participant Recruitment and Study Coordination
Alie holds an MSc in Human Nutritional Sciences from the University of Manitoba and has over 8 years of clinical research experience, including nutrition and drug clinical trials. Her thesis explored the acute effects of extruded pulses on glycemic response, insulin, appetite, and food intake. Additional research experience includes working on a Métis specific project with Métis community. She supports the THRiVE team with the MILC Project and enjoys building relationships with research participants. Alie is a Red River Métis citizen; some of her family names include Johnston, Brown, Thomas, and Richards
Dr. Larisa Lotoski, PhD | Senior Research Associate
Research Protocol Design and Analysis
Dr. Lotoski’s primary research interests include child health and the effects of the physical and social environment on children’s health outcomes. Larisa’s interest in child health research began during her MSc (Immunology) training at the University of Manitoba where she studied severe childhood asthma and allergic disease. She holds a PhD in Community and Population Health Sciences (Community Health and Epidemiology) from the University of Saskatchewan. Her doctoral research involved the characterization of children’s sedentary time and physical activity in their lived environment.