CBC: Top 40, part 4
CBC Manitoba is again running their Future 40 contest – highlighting the province’s new crop of leaders, movers and shakers under the age of 40.
Meghan Azad
Age: 33
Category: Science and Technology
Meghan Azad is scientist at the University of Manitoba and Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, studying how early life experiences shape lifelong health. Her research with the CHILD Study, involving 1,000 Manitoba families, shows that breastfeeding reduces the risk of childhood obesity and helps babies establish a healthy gut flora. Her team is studying specific molecules in breast milk to understand how this works.
Azad serves on the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Committee. She is a founding member of the $3.5-million Manitoba Developmental Origins of Chronic Diseases in Children Network and co-director of the Manitoba Personalized Lifestyle Research Program.
She received the Banting Fellowship, Canada’s top award for post-doctoral researchers, and was one of three Canadians invited to the 2014 Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting, an international gathering of young scientists and Nobel Prize laureates in physiology or medicine.
Jade Harper
Age: 32
Category: Community, Social Activism and Volunteerism
Jade Harper is the founder and owner of SpiritFusion, a mobile yoga and wellness studio that integrates Indigenous teachings and Eastern practices encouraging holistic wellness.
At 29, Jade was voted onto Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre’s board of directors by her peers and, just one year later, appointed as the chairperson, a position Jade continues to hold.
In addition to the above, she sits on the Beyond Borders board of directors, is active in suicide prevention in northern Manitoba, is a co-founder of The Village Walk and is a curator of “Half-breeds in their Natural Environment: Taking back the Carte de Visit.”
She studies at the University of Manitoba, pursuing a native studies major and minor in nutrition. She is a Winnipeg Police Service Indigenous Advisory Council member and she works with children and youth who have been sexually exploited. As well, she is a strong philanthropist throughout Manitoba.