The IMiC Team
Dr. Meghan Azad, PhD - Principal Investigator
Dr. Meghan 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 (DOHaD). Her research focuses on the role of infant nutrition and the microbiome in shaping child growth, development, and resilience. Dr. Azad leads the International Milk Composition (IMiC) Consortium, and directs the Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre (MILC). She also serves as Knowledge Mobilization Chair for the CHILD Cohort Study, a national pregnancy cohort following 3,500 Canadian children to understand how early life experiences influence lifelong health.

University of Manitoba IMiC Team Members

Kelsey Fehr, MSc
Senior Data Analyst
Alfred Ke, MSc
Bioinformatician and Data Manager
Dr. Daniel Flores-Orozco, PhD
Data Manager and Analyst
Sarah Bridgman, MSc
Research Associate
Dr. Melissa Manus, PhD
Former post doctoral fellow
Michelle Olivson, MSc
Research Project Manager
Dr. Merilee Brockway, PhD
Former post doctoral fellow
Shayna Giesbrecht, MSc 
MILC Biorepository Lab Manager
Dr. Sarah Reyes, PhD
Former post doctoral fellow

Field Site Partners

CHILD Cohort Study | Canada

McMaster ​​University, Canada
​
The CHILD Cohort Study is a prospective longitudinal birth cohort study. This means that CHILD researchers are actively following the Study participants over time as they grow and develop—from mid-pregnancy into childhood and adolescence. CHILD is designed this way so it can collect information at time points that are considered to be especially critical to the health and development of children. CHILD contributes milk samples to IMiC for various analyses.

Website: https://childstudy.ca/
Padmaja Subbarao, MD, MSc, FRCP(C), FAAP, LMCC 
Director, CHILD Cohort Study
As Study Director, Dr. Subbarao is responsible for the broad scope of conduct of the study, including the maintenance of scientific and ethical standards, the well-being of CHILD participants, and the overall co-ordination of studies and personnel. She also leads the in-depth evaluation of lung function trajectories from infancy through childhood undertaken at the Toronto site.
Meghan Azad, PhD
Knowledge Mobilization Lead, former Deputy Director, CHILD Cohort Study
Dr. Azad provides scientific leadership for the translation and integration of CHILD Cohort Study data, with a particular focus on human milk biology and the early-life microbiome. As a principal investigator and long-standing collaborator, she has led and supported multiple CHILD-based analyses linking infant feeding, milk-derived bioactives, and microbial exposures to child growth, obesity, asthma, and allergic disease.

ELICIT Trial | Tanzania

Haydom Global Health Research Centre, Tanzania 
​University of Virginia, USA
 
​ELICIT is an RCT performed in the area around Haydom, Tanzania— a rural, maize-based agricultural setting with a high burden of intestinal pathogens and high rate of childhood stunting. The factorial RCT involved the administration of scheduled daily nicotinamide to 1188 mothers and infants and/or antimicrobials to infants recruited at age <2 weeks and followed until 18 months.
Mark DeBoer, MD, MSc, MCR 
​Pediatric Endocrinologist, University of Virginia (UVa)
As a pediatric endocrinologist, Dr. Mark D. DeBoer is passionate about learning how we can improve childhood growth and development in resource-poor settings around the world.  He is the UVa PI of ELICIT and other studies in the area around Haydom Tanzania.  He is also active in research related to metabolic syndrome and the use of diabetes technology in the care of children with T1D.
Joann M. McDermid, MSc, DipEpidBiostat, PhD, RDN, FAND 
Consultant
Dr. McDermid is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who completed her PhD in Epidemiology & Population Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom. Dr. McDermid is interested in maternal and infant nutrition and in the complex interactions between dietary intake, nutritional health and autoimmune or infectious disease outcomes in domestic and international contexts. 
Estomih Mduma, MPH 
Research Consultant, Haydom Global Health Research Center
​Estomih Mduma is a researcher in epidemiology and clinical trials research, leading a large research team at the Haydom Global Health Research Center.  He is Principle Investigator of multiple projects, including ELICIT and MAL-ED. He has an extensive background in research on improving neonatal resuscitation techniques through the SAFER Birth study.

MISAME-3 | Burkina Faso

​Houndé District, Burkina Faso
Ghent University, Belgium
​​
The MISAME-3 (MIcronutriments pour la SAnté de la Mère et de l’Enfant) research project aims to study the efficacy of a fortified balanced energy protein (BEP) supplement for pregnant and lactating women to improve birth weight, fetal and infant growth in rural Burkina Faso. 
​
Website: www.misame3.ugent.be
​Dr. Trenton Dailey-Chwalibóg, MPH PhD 
Senior Research Fellow, Food Technology, Safety and Health, Ghent University
Dr. Dailey-Chwalibóg is a perinatal epidemiologist who employs multi-omics methods to study the fundamental biology of maternal and child vulnerability in the developing world. His research is at the nexus of field epidemiology, clinical intervention and unbiased multi-omic investigation. Since 2020, he has developed and led the biomarker discovery portfolio within the Department of Food Technology, Safety, and Health at Ghent University. He has over a decade of experience living and working across Africa and Asia.
​Laeticia Toe 
Scientific Researcher, Ghent University
Dr. Toe uses multidisciplinary approaches to enhance Maternal and child health in developing countries. Areas of focus include gut microbiota and nutrition, maternal and child nutrition and health, nutrition interventions, project management, and clinical trials design and implementation
Additional Team Member:​
  • Lishi Deng - PhD student, Ghent University

Mumta Trials | Pakistan

VITAL Pakistan
The Aga Khan University (AKU), Pakistan​

A community-based, randomized control, assessor blinded trial in peri-urban settings of Karachi, Pakistan to study the impact of Lipid-based Nutritional Supplement for Pregnant and Lactating women which is balanced energy-protein (BEP) dietary supplement, a locally produced ready-to-use nutritional product for lactating women (LW) and single prophylaxis dose of Azithromycin for infants, on growth of infants over the period of six months since birth compared to current standard of care. 

Website: www.vitalpakistan.org.pk
Fyezah Jehan, MSc, FCPS, MBBS
Professor & Chairperson, Pediatrics and Child Health, The Aga Khan University
Dr. Jehan is the technical lead at AKU for the design, oversight, and analysis of the MUMTA trials and provides laboratory services (blood/urine/stool testing) for pregnant women and infants and MRI support.
Additional Team Members:​
  • Ameer Muhammad, MS, Pharm-D
  • Imran Nisar
  • Aneela Pasha – PhD Student, Aga Khan University ​

Laboratory Partners

Allen Lab, MILQ Study
​
USDA, ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Davis, USA
​University of California, Davis, USA​
The Maternal, Infant and Lactation Quality (MILQ) Study, led by Dr. Lindsay Allen, is collecting milk, blood, saliva and fecal samples across the first nine months of lactation, in well-nourished women in four countries. Dr. Allen's laboratory team analyzes micronutrients and other constituents of IMiC human milk samples using platforms such as UPLC-MS/MS, in non-intervention and intervention studies.

Website: Allen (MILQ) Lab - USDA ARS
Lindsay Allen, PhD
Research Physiologist, USDA, ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center
Principal Investigator, MILQ Study; Research Professor, UC Davis
Dr. Allen is a Research Physiologist in the USDA, ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center in Davis, CA. She studies prevalence, causes and consequences of micronutrient deficiencies using randomized, controlled human trials testing micronutrient supplements, food fortification, and food-based approaches. Dr. Allen served on committees of the Food and Nutrition Board, WHO, UNICEF, ADB, World Bank, PAHO and FAO and was principal author of WHO/FAO’s “Guidelines on Food Fortification with Micronutrients”.
Daniela Hampel, PhD
Food Chemist, MILQ Study; Associate Project Scientist, UC Davis
USDA, ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center
Dr. Hampel is a Food Chemist and the Analytical Coordinator of the MILQ Study at the USDA/ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center and the Department of Nutrition at the University of California Davis. Her research has encompassed three areas: food chemistry, molecular biology, and nutrition, and included method development and studies on natural compounds with potential health benefits in each area. Her focus is method development for nutrient analyses in human milk and plasma/red blood cells to assess micronutrient deficiencies in mostly low- and middle-income countries. 
Additional Team Member:
Bode Lab and MOMI CORE

​University of California, San Diego, USA​
​Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) are the third most abundant component of human breast milk. The goal of our research is to reveal which maternal factors influence HMO composition and discover how HMOs impact health and development. The Bode Lab in collaboration with the Mother-Milk-Infant Center of Research Excellence (MOMI CORE) performs HMO & Targeted Protein analysis on IMiC human milk samples. 

​Websites: www.bodelab.com / www.milk.ucsd.edu
Lars Bode, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics, UCSD; Director, MOMI CORE
​Dr. Bode has been working on human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) for over 20 years. Dr. Bode is Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Neonatology and the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, the Larsson-Rosenquist Chair of Collaborative Human Milk Research, and Director of the Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Mother-Milk-Infant Center of Research Excellence (MOMI CORE) at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). 
O'Connor Lab

University of Toronto, Canada​
Dr. Deborah O'Connor, PhD, RD
Earle W. McHenry Professor & Chair, Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto
​Dr. O'Connor is recognized for her work on human milk and infant nutrition. Her research focuses on the strategies to increase the use of human milk in vulnerable populations which includes the use of donor human milk when parent milk is unavailable. Dr. O'Connor is also interested in understanding the factors that affect the folate and one-carbon nutrient status of women, infants, and young children, specifically the role of universal folic acid fortification of the food supply, vitamin and mineral supplementation and colonic bacterial folate biosynthesis.
Additional Team Members:
Precision Biomarker Laboratories 
​
​Cedars-Sinai, USA
Cedars-Sinai Precision Biomarker Laboratories (PBL) is a proteomic biomarker discovery and development services provider that aims to leverage proteomics to realize the potential of precision medicine. Our experts enable precise proteome phenotyping of a wide range of body fluids, cells and tissues by integrating novel proteomic methods and translational capabilities to uncover and quantify clinically useful biological and pathological signatures. In collaboration with the Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre (MILC) research consortium, PBL has established and optimized a high throughput proteomics workflow for human breast milk in order to quantify the biological composition across population-based cohorts.

Website: www.cedars-sinai.org/pbl
Jennifer Van Eyk, PhD
Dr. Van Eyk is an international leader in the area of clinical proteomics. Her lab focuses on developing technical pipelines for de novo discovery and larger scale quantitative mass spectrometry methods. Her laboratory is well known for the extreme technical quality of the data generated, rigorous quality control with tight %CV while applying these to key clinical questions. The aim is to maximize throughput and reproducibility in order to move targeted and robust discovery methods into large population healthy continuous assessment and clinical grade assays focusing on brain and cardiovascular diseases.
Sapient Bioanalytics

​​San Diego, USA
​Sapient is a full-service bioanalytical research organization that enables rapid discovery of circulating biomarkers by combining high throughput mass spectrometry technologies, biocomputational learning, and proprietary longitudinal human data. These tools and methods quickly deliver actionable insights into biomarkers of human health, biological processes, pharmacodynamics, and disease progression. Sapient performs untargeted biomarker discovery and analysis on IMiC milk samples from our Field Site Partners.

Website: https://sapient.bio/
Biocrates Life Sciences

​Innsbruck, Austria
Biocrates Life Sciences is the global leader in mass spectrometry-based quantitative metabolite technology, offering kits and services that cover over 1,000 metabolites across more than 40 metabolite classes. Its scalable, easy-to-use metabolomics profiling products deliver quantitative, reproducible assays that, together with Biocrates’ expertise in study design, sampling, measurement, statistical analysis, and biomedical data interpretation, reveal the drivers of biological differences and underlying mechanisms. Biocrates conducts comprehensive metabolomics analysis of IMiC milk samples from field site partners, providing quantitative metabolite data to the project.​

Website: https://biocrates.com/

Data Science Partners

Aghaeepour Laboratory

Stanford University, USA
The Aghaeepour Lab uses machine learning to study patients in translational settings. This includes integrative “multiomics” analysis across genomics, proteomics, imaging, and single-cell technologies, as well as quantitative clinical phenotyping using electronic health records and wearable devices. 

Website: www.nalab.stanford.edu
Nima Aghaeepour, PhD
Professor, Stanford University
Dr. Aghaeepour's laboratory develops machine learning and artificial intelligence methods to study clinical and biological modalities in translational settings.  He is primarily interested in leveraging multiomics studies, wearable devices, and electronic health records to address global health challenges. His work is recognized by awards from numerous national and international organizations including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the March of Dimes Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
Chi-Hung (Nolan) Shu, MSc
Research Data Scientist, Aghaeepour Lab, Stanford University
Chi-Hung ​is a Research Data Scientist at the Aghaeepour Lab. His research interests focus on implementing informatics tools, algorithms, and statistical methods to interrogate human disease mechanisms and leveraging clinical and molecular data to advance precision medicine. His ongoing projects include using multi-omics and clinical data to predict neonatal outcomes.
Shenhav Lab

NYU Langone Health, USA
The Shenhav Lab is a computational biology research group dedicated to developing mathematical models and AI algorithms to improve the health of women and children, with a focus on fertility, pregnancy, and lactation. Their aim is to enhance maternal and child health outcomes through rigorous, data-driven insights.

​Website: www.shenhav-lab.com
Liat Shenhav, PhD MSc BSc 
Assistant Professor, Institute for Systems Genetics and the Department of Microbiology, Grossman School of Medicine
Dr. Shenhav is the Principal Investigator of the lab and an Assistant Professor at NYU. Before joining NYU, she was an independent research fellow at the Center for Studies in Physics and Biology at Rockefeller University. She holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Mathematics and Statistics from Tel Aviv University and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UCLA.
April Juahal, PhD 
Data Science Engineer, Shenhav Lab
Dr. Juahal is a Data Science Engineer focusing on pipeline development and multi-omics data analysis. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Auckland and her undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley. Outside of work, she enjoys art, cooking, and creative writing.
Hubbard Laboratory

UC Berkeley, USA
Alan Hubbard, PhD
Professor, UC Berkeley
Dr. Hubbard, Professor of Biostatistics at UC Berkeley and Head of the Division of Biostatistics, works on an estimation of complex causal parameters and prediction algorithms using machine learning, with an emphasis on applications in epidemiology, environmental exposure and biomedicine. Research interests include targeted learning, causal inference, machine learning, statistical issues in epidemiology, and precision medicine and public health.
Andrew Mertens, PhD MS MA
Senior Project Data Analyst, UC Berkeley
Dr. Mertens is a research data analysist and lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on the causes and consequences of poor child growth and development in low and middle income countries, and on how water, sanitation, hygiene, and nutritional interventions affect the causal pathways leading to poor growth and development. His methodological interests are in individual-participant data meta-analyses, causal inference, trial design, and replication and transparency in science. 

IMiC Database

The DATA is a team of researchers working together to enable better and faster medicine through smarter computer tools. They help clinicians and scientists at the University Health Network and beyond streamline clinical workflows and enable faster and better treatments through computational and statistical methods.​
IMiC Scientific Advisory Committee:
  • ​Michelle (Shelley) McGuire (University of Idaho)
  • Donna Geddes (University of Western Australia)
  • Parul Christian (Johns Hopkins University)
  • Berthold Koletzko (LMU-Universität Munich and German Center for Child and Adolescent Health, site Munich)
  • Ali Rahnavard (George Washington University)
The IMiC Consortium is funded by a US$5,000,000 investment from the Gates Foundation Maternal, Newborn & Child Health Strategy.