Basim Abu Rafea, MD, FRCSC, FACOG
Associate Professor
Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
Western University
Biography
Dr Abu Rafea received his medical degree from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1995. He then completed his residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Western Ontario (Western), London, Ontario, Canada. Subsequently, he successfully completed two subspecialties from Western in 2005 and 2006 respectively: A Royal College Subspecialty in Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility; and a further Subspecialty in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery.
Returning to Saudi Arabia in 2006 as a consultant at King Fahd Medical City, he established and became the Director of the Residency Training Program in Obstetrics and Gynecology at that institution. He also established the first dedicated Abnormal Uterine Bleeding Clinic, and the first dedicated Chronic Pelvic Pain Clinic in Saudi Arabia. He accepted the Chairmanship of the Obstetrics & Gynecology Training Committee, was a member of the Pain Management Committee, a member of the Quality Improvement Committee and a member of the Academic Officers Council.
In 2008, he joined King Saud University and King Khalid University Hospital as an Assistant Professor and became the Director of the Assisted Conception Unit, later becoming the Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Faculty of Medicine. In 2010, Dr. Abu Rafea joined King Khalid University Hospital & Faculty of Medicine Executive Board and became the Chairman of the Clinical Ethics Committee at the same hospital.
Returning to Canada in 2013, Dr. Abu Rafea was appointed as an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was from there that he returned to Western in July of 2015 as Associate Professor and Chair of the REI Division and Medical Director of The Fertility Clinic, London Health Sciences Centre.
Dr. Abu Rafea has a passion for research. He has authored & co-authored more than 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals, two book chapters, and completed more than 40 abstracts and presentations. Additionally, he has established several databases that have contributed to the medical literature. He is the winner of numerous national & international research awards, including those bestowed by the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS) and the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopy (AAGL). His current research is centred on embryo development and selection (single embryo transfer), advances in minimally invasive surgery and improved treatments for abnormal uterine bleeding.
