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MaxiMoM
Our team
MaxiMoM
Meet the team behind MaxiMoM
Combining their research, clinical, milk banking, and discipline-specific strengths, principal investigators, Drs. O’Connor and Unger, have become international leaders in optimizing human milk for very low birth weight infants. This research could not be done without the dedication and enthusiasm of our large team of staff, trainees, collaborators, and family advisors!
Principal investigators
Deborah O'Connor PhD RD
Dr. O’Connor is the Chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto and holds scientific appointments in the Research Institute at The Hospital for Sick Children and in the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital. She is also a Canada Research Chair in Human Milk and Infant Nutrition. Dr. O’Connor is a recognized authority in maternal and neonatal nutrition with a current research focus on evaluation of strategies to support human milk feeding in vulnerable populations including the use of donor human milk when maternal milk is unavailable. Dr. O'Connor is also interested in understanding the factors that affect the folate and one-carbon (e.g. vitamin B12) nutrient status of women and their infants. In particular, her work investigates the role folic acid fortification, vitamin and mineral supplementation and colonic bacterial folate biosynthesis play on the folate status of women of reproductive age. Dr. O’Connor frequently serves on national and international expert committees to develop maternal and neonatal nutrition guidelines.
Sharon Unger MD
Dr. Unger is a neonatologist at Sinai Health, a scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, a professor in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto (U of T) and a mother to three teenage daughters. She comes from New Brunswick and attended Dalhousie University Medical School. Following pediatrics residency on the East Coast, Dr. Unger completed fellowship training in neonatal-perinatal medicine at U of T. Along with Dr. O'Connor she was a primary investigator for the Donor Milk for Improved Neurodevelopmental Outcomes (DoMINO) trial which is the largest blinded randomized controlled trial in donor milk use as a supplement to mother's milk. This trial provided the evidence required to launch the Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank for which Dr. Unger is the medical director. Drs. Unger and O'Connor have had continuous funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for more than the past decade and together serve as the primary investigators for the MaxiMoM: Maximizing Mothers' Milk Program of Research.
Staff
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Annette Chrzaniecki, MPH RD
Clinical Research Dietitian
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Adrienne Agueci, BSc
Dietary Technician
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Lauren Tang
Dietary Technician
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Alexia Lambis MEd
Research assistant & Psychometrist
Nicholas Carroll, MSc RD
​Clinical Research Dietitian
Rachael Crumb
Research Diet Technician
Zoe Aliefendioglu
Lab Research Project Coordinator
Bonnie
Clinical Research Dietitian
Fatima Merza
Lab Research Project Coordinator
Collaborators
Collaboration is at the heart of our work. The consortium of neonatal intensive care units and organizations are an integral part of the MaxiMoM program. Through these collaborators, we reach many of the infants born very low birth weight in Canada each year. This level of integration and collaboration makes the MaxiMoM program a unique network not found anywhere else in the world. Established research contracts, electronic data collection, a biobank, and support from the Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank place MaxiMoM in an ideal position to rapidly and effectively answer research questions and implement practice change.
Humber River Hospital
Lakeridge Health
Mackenzie Health
Markham Stouffville Hospital
Toronto East Health Network
North York General Hospital
Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank
Scarborough Health Network
Southlake Regional Health Centre
Sinai Health System
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
The Hospital for Sick Children
Unity Health Toronto
Universite Laval
University of Alberta
University of Ottawa
University of Toronto
Trillium Health Partners
William Osler Health System
Postdoctoral Fellows
Research fellow
Alison Mildon, PhD RD
Research fellow
Investigating infant feeding, household food security and community-based nutrition interventions in diverse populations
Alison Mildon, PhD RD
Maryam Razaghi, PhD
Research fellow
The CanDo (Canadian Donor Milk) Trial: Pasteurized human donor milk supplementation in the well-baby unit.
Trainees
Shachar Shalit, RD, MPH
PhD Student
Nutritional intake of very low birth weight human milk fed infants who achieved optimal developmental outcome
Sara Shama MSc RD
PhD Student
Impact of pre- and probiotic properties of mother's milk on the microbial colonization of very low birth weight infants
Amanda Montana, BSc
MSc Student
Assessing the diet quality of lactating mothers of very preterm infants during the first post month postpartum.
Former Trainees
Former Undergraduate Students​
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Akash Kothari MSc, BSc
Current Position: Medical Student, University of Toronto
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Rachel Wong MSc, BSc
Current Position: Research Associate, University of Toronto
Former Masters Students​
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​Samantha Ismail MSc, BSc
Current Position: Medical Student, University of Toronto
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Colleen Farrell MSc RD
Current Position: Renal Dietitian, Island Health, Vancouver Island​
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Dawn Ng MSc​
Current Position: Dentist, Newstead Smiles, Queensland, Australia
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Eleanor Reid MSc
Current Position: Project Manager, Funding Analytics & Operations Support, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
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Joan Brennan-Donnan MSc RD
Current Position: Registered Dietitian, Sinai Health System
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Sara DiLauro MSc RD
Current Position: Registered Dietitian, The Hospital for Sick Children
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Siya Khanna MSc
Current Position: Medical Resident
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Susan Trang MSc
Current Position: Nutrition Research Analyst, Nutrition Regulations Standards Division, Health Canada
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Yunnie Luk MSc RD
Current Position: Registered Dietitian, The Hospital for Sick Children
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Adrianna Greco MSc RD
Current position: PhD student, The University of British Columbia
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Victoria Colaluca MSc BSc
Current position: Graduate Student, Adler
Former Doctoral Students​
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Jane Francis PhD RD
Current Position: Research Fellow, Acadia University
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Julie Sato, PhD
Current Position: Post-doctoral fellow University of Toronto (Dr. Margot Taylor Lab)
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Lauren LeMay-Nedjelski PhD
Current Position: Medical Writer, EVERSANA
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Meghan McGee PhD
Current Position: Project Coordinator, Bridgepoint Research Collaboratory
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Nicole Bando PhD MSc
Current Position: Research Associate, Maternal Infant Research Centre, Sinai Health
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Michelle Asbury PhD MSc
Current Position: Postdoctoral Associate, University of Calgary
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Michael Pitino PhD MSc
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar, Oregon State University​
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Former Clinical & Research Fellow​s
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Abu Ismail MD
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Current Posititon: Paediatrician and neonatologist at Halton Health Care
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Amelia Xu PhD
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Sinai Health System
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Amir El Makkawi MD
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Queen’s University and Paediatrician and neonatologist Lakeridge Health
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Julia Panczuk MD
Current Position: Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia and Neonatologist, BC Women’s Hospital
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Kathryn Hopperton PhD
Current Position: Scientific Evaluator, Health Canada
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Marina Castro MD
Current Position: Staff Paediatrician and Neonatologist at Credit Valley Hospital and Mississauga Hospital​
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Phoebe Kigozi MD
Current Position: Neonatologist, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
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Telford Yeung MD PhD
Current Position: Staff Neonatologist, Windsor Regional Hospital
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Kathryn Walton PhD RD
Current Position: Assistant Professor, University of Guelph
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Team Pictures
Michael Pitino MSc
PhD student
Optimizing the pasteurization of human donor milk using high hydrostatic pressure processing
Sara Shama MSc RD
PhD student​
Impact of pre- and probiotic properties of mother’s milk on the microbial colonization of very low birth weight infants
Victoria Colaluca BSc
MSc student​
The effect of probiotics on human colonic folate concentration
Photo of MaxiMoM celebrating thanksgiving
Photo of Adrianna Greco, Dr. Debbie O'Connor, Jo-Anna Baxter and Aneta Plaga at Adrianna's MSc Thesis Defense
Photo of Michael Pitino and his presentation at the IMGC
SickKids Research Institute
Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning
686 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5G 0A4
Department of Nutritional Sciences
University of Toronto
1 King's College Circle
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5S 1A8
© 2021 MaxiMoM Research
