Abolfazl Avan, MD, PhD

Nash_160x180.jpgAdjunct Research Professor
E-mail: aavan2@uwo.ca

Appointments

  • Research Associate, Robarts Research Institute, Department of Clinical Neurological Science
  • Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Research Interests

  • Neuroepidemiology
  • Global Burden of Disease
  • Brain Health
  • Dementia, Stroke
  • Ischemic heart disease
  • Risk factors
  • Prevention
  • Wilson's disease
  • Evidence-based medicine

Education

  • MD, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (2001-2009), Tabriz, Iran
  • MD-Internships, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (2007-2009)
  • PhD, Amsterdam University Medical Center (VU Medical Center) (2013-2015), Amsterdam, Netherlands

Short Bio

Abolfazl Avan, MD, PhD was ranked among the top 0.1% of national candidates and received a national scholarship (2001) to do his medical training (MD) in a high-rank medical school in Iran (Tabriz UMS 2009), did his PhD in the Netherlands (Amsterdam UMC 2015) and practiced in the emergency department and as a family physician in rural and urban regions for more than six years in Iran. He directed two healthcare centers for about three years and was deputy director for two years.

During the last decade, Dr. Avan has numerous scientific contributions to critical public health issues, analyzing global, regional, and national trends in major vascular diseases, including ischemic heart disease, stroke, and dementia. His contributions help clinicians, researchers, and policymakers prioritize resources to modifiable proportions of the most burdensome public health problems and/or their alarming temporal changes. They include, but are not limited to socioeconomic, environmental, and metabolic risk factors of stroke and dementia in low-, middle-, and high-income countries.

His work tried to detect alarming and favorable trends in the risk of the three conditions attributable to modifiable risk factors hoping to pave the way towards a reduction in the risk. He intends to minimize the burden of these major health conditions and promote the implementation of lifelong measures to improve brain health globally and regionally. 

Dr. Avan is a member of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN; 2015–Present), the Movement Disorders Society (MDS; 2011–Present), and a Collaborator of the Global Burden of Disease study (GBD; 2019–Present).