CHILD researcher awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal
CHILD Cohort Study (CHILD) researcher Dr. Shirin Moossavi has been awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal – Awarded for outstanding achievement at the PhD level from the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba.
The award is given annually by the Governor General of Canada to recognize the recipient’s overall excellence and outstanding achievements.
Dr. Moossavi obtained her Medical Doctorate from Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran; her M.Sc. in Genetic Manipulation and Molecular Biology from University of Sussex, UK; and her PhD in Medical Microbiology under the supervision of CHILD’s Deputy Director, Dr. Meghan Azad, at the University of Manitoba.
Dr. Moossavi’s research has focused on the role of early life microbiota in health and disease. With Dr. Azad, she has published numerous papers examining the milk microbiome. Among numerous findings, her research has found that among the many factors examined, the method of breastfeeding – whether mothers fed their infants directly at the breast or fed them pumped breastmilk from a bottle – was the most consistent factor associated with the milk microbiota composition.
Currently, Dr. Moossavi is a CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow working with CHILD investigator Dr. Marie-Claire Arrieta and Dr. Amir Sanati-Nezhad at the University of Calgary to develop “organ-on-chip” technology to study the causal role of the gut microbiome in health and disease.