Shabbir Alibhai, MD, MSc
Staff Physician, General Internal Medicine, UHN
Associate Professor of Medicine and Health Policy Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto
Dr. Alibhai completed medical school training in 1993 and went on to specialize in internal medicine and geriatric medicine. He then obtained a Master’s in Clinical Epidemiology, all at the University of Toronto. He is currently on staff as a general internist, geriatrician, and researcher at the University Health Network and Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and is a Research Scientist of the Canadian Cancer Society. He is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. His primary research interest is cancer in older adults. He has a long-standing personal and educational interest in religious biomedical ethics, focusing on end of life issues. He is involved with several quality improvement initiatives related to older adults with multiple medical problems, including medication safety/reconciliation and falls prevention programs.
Shabbir is currently involved in a number of innovative projects. In projects funded by the Canadian Cancer Society and the American Society of Clinical Oncology, he is examining how side effects of hormone therapy among men with prostate cancer impact quality of life, physical function, cognition and bone density. Funded by donors and the Toronto General & Western Research Foundation and in collaboration with ICES, Shabbir is also engaging in a province-wide study of 19,000 prostate cancer patients to understand the impact of side effects for hormone therapy on heart disease, diabetes, and fractures. Shabbir is also involved in a project funded by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada to design and implement exercise interventions to determine if exercise improves side effects from cancer therapies in middle-aged and elderly patients with acute leukemia who are in disease remission. He is planning a similar pilot study of exercise with middle-aged and older patients with acute leukemia who are just starting intensive chemotherapy, to determine if exercise can avoid side effects of chemotherapy such as worsening well-being, physical fitness, and fatigue. In a collaboration with the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, these same metrics are being studied in men with prostate cancer patients receiving on-going hormone treatment. In a partnership with the Toronto Western Hospital Geriatric Program and Seniors’ Wellness, Shabbir has been instrumental in the development and outcomes evaluation of a Falls Prevention Program which offers clinic-based patient assessments and care interventions to reduce the risk of falling.