Shabbir M. H. Alibhai, MD, MSc, FRCPC
May 19, 2004

Shabbir M.H. Alibhai

Dr. Alibhai is a specialist in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine who practices at the University Health Network in Toronto. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Health Policy, Management, & Evaluation at the University of Toronto. He is a Consultant Geriatrician at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and the Senior Editor of Geriatrics and Aging, a continuing education print and electronic journal for primary care physicians in Canada and throughout the world.

Dr. Alibhai received his medical degree from the University of Toronto and graduated with honours in 1993. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine in 1996 and went on to obtain subspecialty certification in Geriatric Medicine in 1998. In 2001 he completed a Masters of Science in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research at the University of Toronto. Dr. Alibhai has received a number of awards, both for his teaching in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine as well as for presentation of research while a student, resident, and research fellow.

Dr. Alibhai's research interests focus on Geriatric Oncology. He is interested in understanding how cancer and its treatment affects older adults. In particular, he focuses on both prostate cancer and acute myeloid leukaemia. He uses large administrative databases to monitor patterns of diagnosis, referral, and therapy. He uses decision analytic techniques to understand optimal therapy. He is also involved in quality of life studies to understand the health effects of cancer and its treatment.

Dr. Alibhai is a clinician/investigator and spends approximately 50% of his time in clinical research. He is involved in several large studies in prostate cancer, one of which is a 5-year study that is examining the costs of the diagnosis and treatment of cancer throughout the trajectory of the illness. This study has been sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. A second large study has just begun enrolling subjects and is examining the effects of Androgen Deprivation Therapy on older men with prostate cancer in the domains of quality of life, physical function, and cognition. This is a large, three-year study that has been sponsored by the National Cancer Institutes of Canada and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Alibhai has also received a career development award from ASCO for this project. In addition, Dr. Alibhai is involved in studies examining the short-term morbidity and mortality associated with radical prostatectomy as a function of age and co-morbid medical illnesses in older adults. Finally, Dr. Alibhai is involved in a study examining the quality of life and functional status of adults age 60 or older with acute myeloleukaemia, either newly diagnosed or relapsed. A pilot study has just been completed and a one-year prospective study is about to begin enrollment. Dr. Alibhai has published a number of papers primarily in the area of prostate cancer.

Dr. Alibhai is also interested from a clinical and research perspective in biomedical ethics, particularly focusing on religious biomedical ethics in the older adult population. He has presented locally as well as internationally on biomedical ethics from an Islamic and secular point of view. He has co-authored an article examining ethics at the end of life from the perspective of Islam, Judaism, and Catholicism.

Dr. Alibhai has served as a peer reviewer for a number of prominent medical journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and others. Along with being the senior editor of Geriatrics and Aging, he is a member of the Reader Advisory Panel at The Canadian Medical Association Journal and a member of the Faculty Advisory Board of the University of Toronto Medical Journal. He was recently co-editor of the Literature Review Section of International Urology and Nephrology.

A selection of recent papers published by Dr. Alibhai are listed below.

1.	Alibhai SMH, Klotz LH. A systematic review of randomized trials in localized prostate cancer. Canadian Journal of Urology 2004; 11(1):2110-17. (Principal author)
2.	Alibhai SMH, Krahn MD, Cohen MM, Fleshner NE, Tomlinson G, Naglie G. Is there age bias in the treatment of localized prostate carcinoma? Cancer 2004; 100:72-81. (Principal author)
3.	Nelson A, Tomlinson G, Naglie G, Alibhai SMH, Etchells E, Cheung A, Kapral M, Gold W, Abrams H, Bacchus M, Locke K, Morgan M, Krahn M. The effect of English proficiency on outcomes of care for hospitalized inpatients. Journal of General Internal Medicine 2004; 19:223-8. (Co-author)
4.	Alibhai SMH, Naglie G, Nam R, Trachtenberg J, Krahn MD. Influence of age and comorbidity on optimal treatment of localized prostate cancer - a decision-analytic view. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2003; 21:3318-27. (Principal author)
5.	Schwartz K, Alibhai SMH, Tomlinson G, Naglie G, Krahn MD. Continued undertreatment of older men with localized prostate cancer. Urology 2003; 62:860-5. (Co-supervising author)
6.	Clarfield AM, Gordon M, Markwell H, Alibhai SMH. Ethics at the end of life: the three monotheistic religions' views. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2003; 51:1149-54. (Co-principal author)
7.	Krahn MD, Bremner K, Asaria J, Alibhai SMH, Nam R, Tomlinson G, Warde P, Jewett MA, Naglie G. The ten-year rule revisited: accuracy of clinicians' estimates of life expectancy in patients with localized prostate cancer. Urology 2002; 60(2):258-63. (Co-author)