Dr. Kozeta Miliku, MD PhD

Assistant Professor

Dr. Kozeta Miliku obtained her Medical Doctorate in 2013 at the Medical University of Tirana in Albania. She received her doctoral degree in Clinical Epidemiology in May 2017 at the Erasmus University Medical Centre in the Netherlands. Her PhD thesis entitled: “Early life nutrition, growth and kidney function in children” studied the role of genetics, parental health and nutritional factors on fetal growth and childhood kidney function in children. 

Dr. Miliku’s postdoctoral research at the University of Manitoba and McMaster University focused on understanding the role of nutrition and genetics in the developmental origins of chronic disease, including cardiometabolic health, asthma and allergies among Canadian children. 

At the University of Toronto, Dr. Miliku’s lab employs a life course perspective to study the impact of nutrition, environment and genetics on the development of multimorbidity (the co-existence of two or more chronic conditions). She also teaches the NFS382 course "Vitamin & Mineral Metabolism Throughout the Life-Cycle".

Dr. Miliku is the Clinical Science Officer of the CHILD Cohort Study, one of the largest Canadian pregnancy cohorts. She is also the Co-Chair of the “Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity” Committee of the DOHaD Canada Society. 

Zheng Hao (Howard) Chen 

PhD Student 

Howard is a recipient of CGS-D (CIHR) and is currently a PhD student in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto. He received his BSc with a major in Food Science and minor in Nutritional and Nutraceutical Sciences from the University of Guelph. His doctoral work focuses on early childhood diet, cardiometabolic outcomes, and puberty development. Howard is interested in understanding how childhood dietary patterns and ultra-processed food intake influence cardiometabolic health in later life.

Maurya Hart 

MSc Student 

Maurya is a Registered Dietitian and holds an undergraduate degree from the BSc (NutrSc) Dietetics Major program at McGill University. She is currently completing a Master's thesis focused on the influence of prenatal paternal lifestyle factors (including diet) on offspring's cardiovascular disease risk. Her research is fueled by her passion to improve the health of children and reduce the burden of chronic disease in Canada. 

Adrianna Morris 

MSc Student 

Adrianna is a Master’s student in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto. She holds a BSc (Honours) in Life Sciences from Queen’s University and completed an academic exchange with Lund University in Sweden. Her graduate research examines the influence of paternal, prenatal cardiovascular and cardiometabolic health on offspring disease risk, with a particular focus on multimorbidity in young children. She is also interested in understanding the role of inflammation and the microbiome in the development of multimorbidities. Adrianna is deeply committed to advancing research that helps reduce the burden of chronic diseases in children. 

Jasmin Hussain-Jimenez

MSc Student 

Jasmin is a recent graduate of the Honours Health Sciences Program at McMaster University. Her Masters thesis is focused on the association between ultra processed food consumption and allergy in children. Jasmin is passionate about improving maternal and child health through adequate nutrition. 

Tuka Alghazawi 

Undergraduate Student

Tuka is working towards her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences from the University of Toronto. She joined the Miliku Lab as a summer research student, studying the association between obesity and asthma in children and exploring the role of pubertal factors in this association. Tuka plans to pursue an MSc in Nutritional Sciences to continue investigating child health dynamics and subsequently earn a Doctor of Medicine degree to become a future pediatrician.

Laetitia Satam 

Undergraduate Student

Laetitia Satam (she/her) is a Nutrition student at the University of Alberta. She was 1 of 11 students from across the country selected to participate in the Amgen Scholar Program, where she is excited in Dr. Miliku's Lab to research more about the paternal origins of health and disease (POHaD) to explore how paternal health effects child development. 

Estelle Kim 

Undergraduate Student

Estelle Kim is a fourth-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on investigating blood pressure trajectory development in children and its relationship to dietary exposures in early childhood. With a strong interest in child health and development, Estelle intends to further her studies in the medical field.

Maria Aroca-Ouellette

Undergraduate Student

Maria is a third-year student at the University of Toronto, pursuing a double major in Nutritional Sciences and Human Biology. She is joining the Miliku Lab through the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) Award, contributing to research on the relationship between nutrition and the onset of puberty.

Shreya Saha 

Medical Student

Feifan Xiang 

Research Assistant