Faculty & School/Dept.

Faculty of Health - School of Health Policy & Management

Degrees

PhD - 2007
University of Toronto
Canada

MPH - 1995
Harvard University
USA

MBBS - 1988
University of Punjab
Pakistan

Biography

 Dr. Farah Ahmad is a health service researcher with a focus on primary care settings, psychosocial health, vulnerable communities and eHealth innovations. Professor Ahmad says “Fostering equitable access to healthcare through applied research, teaching and service is my philosophy”.  She uses mixed-method research designs which range from randomized controlled trials to in-depth interviews, focus groups and concept mapping. She has taught courses in health informatics, eHealth, health promotion, migration and health and research methods.

Selected Publications

Ahmad F, Ginsburg O, Mahmood S, MacDonald L & Pietkiewicz I. A Concept Mapping of study of barriers and solutions to uptake of mammography among South Asian immigrant women. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 2010

Ahmad F & Driver N, McNally MJ, Stewart DE. “Why doesn’t she seek help for partner abuse?” An exploratory study with South Asian immigrant women.Social Science and Medicine 2009; 6: 613-622

 Ahmad F, Hogg-Johnson S, Stewart DE, Skinner HA, Glazier RH & Levinson W. Computer-assisted risk screening for intimate partner violence: A randomized controlled trial. Annals of Internal Medicine 2009;151: 93-102

Ahmad F, Hogg-Johnson S & Skinner HA. Assessing patient attitudes to computerized screening in primary care: Psychometric properties of theComputerized Lifestyle Assessment Scale. Journal of Medical Internet Research 2008; 10(2):e11

 Ahmad F, Hudak PL, Bercovitz K, Hollenberg E & Levinson W. Are physicians ready for patients with Internet-based health information?Journal of Medical Internet Research 2006

 Ahmad F, Vanza R, Shik A, Cheung AM, George U & Stewart DE. Voices of South Asian women: Immigration and mental health. Women and Health 2005; 40(4):113-130.

Affiliations

Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michael Hospital
Affiliate Scientist

CIHR-STIHR Health, Care, Technology and Place
Mentor

Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Assistant Professor (status)

Awards

CIHR Post-doctoral Fellowship - 2007

CIHR Health Research Fellowship - 2004

CIHR Health Research Fellowship - 2003

CIHR-STIHR Health, Care, Technology & Place Fellowship - 2005

Supervision

Currently available to supervise graduate students: Yes

Currently taking on work-study students, Graduate Assistants or Volunteers: Yes

Available to supervise undergraduate thesis projects: No

Current Research

eHealth to Transform Healthcare. Although chronic health conditions have now gained attention of policy makers and health management teams, a new challenge on the horizon is co-occurrence of chronic conditions with poor social conditions (e.g., unemployment, poor housing, food inadequacy, and low social capital). At the time of economic recession, this is a serious concern because of the decline in social conditions at the societal level and shrinking professional resources at the system level. In her research, Dr. Ahmad aims to examine, adopt and implement eHealth technologies in primary care settings to mitigate resource constraints on the health system and address health disparities by empowering communities and healthcare providers for a ‘whole person’ approach and development of integrated models of care. To this end, Dr. Ahmad has examined an interactive, wait-room computer-assisted health-risk assessment (HRA) tool in a Family Medicine setting. This randomized controlled trial demonstrated the tools’ effectiveness in raising discussion and detection of intimate partner violence and risk of compromised mental health during clinical encounters. The qualitative studies revealed provider and patient-acceptance of the tool. Dr. Ahmad examined the HRA through further studies and has now taken the concept to Community Health Centers serving vulnerable communities. After developing and piloting the HRA tool for Dari/Farsi speaking Afghan refugees in a university-community initiative, a multi-site project is in planning.

 Psychosocial Health is also a dominant stream of Dr. Ahmad’s research with a focus on family violence and mental health/stress with several publications (see CV for details).  Another cross-cutting theme is Vulnerable Populations with a focus on social status (i.e., gender, migration and ethnicity) determining access to healthcare. Several of her publications in the area of psychosocial health listed above fall in this domain. This focus is also apparent in her research on under-screening of cancer among ethnic women  and popular modes of health promotion among ethnic immigrant women. To this end, Dr. Ahmad’s significant contribution is successful development of an intervention using ethnic newspapers to promote breast-cancer screening among immigrant women. This model has been replicated by the health promotion team of the Cancer Care Ontario. She is now planning to develop and examine an ‘interactive computer-assisted messaging’ (iCAM) system to reach under-screened populations via primary care settings and community out-reach models.

Research Projects

Breast cancer screening among minority women in GTA: A study of barriers to uptake and retention
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $26,429
Year Funded: 2008
Duration: 1
Funded by: Other...
Other funding: Cancer Care Ontario: The GTA Cancer Prevention and Screening Network

Breast cancer screening among minority women in GTA: A study of solutions to address barriers to uptake and retention
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $10,000
Year Funded: 2009
Duration: 1
Funded by: Other...
Other funding: Canadian Cancer Society

Centre for Research Development on Gender, Mental Health & Violence across Lifespan
Role: CoInvestigator
Amount funded: $2,000,000
Year Funded: 2009
Duration: 5
Funded by: Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Computer-assisted psychosocial risk assessment for (Dari) refugee health and settlement
Role: Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $30,000
Year Funded: 2009
Duration: 2
Funded by: Other...
Other funding: Connaught New Staff Matching

Conceptualization and definition of intimate partner violence among men and women with diverse ethnic backgrounds
Role: CoInvestigator
Amount funded: $123,695
Year Funded: 2007
Duration: 3
Funded by: Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Food for health equity in diverse communities: Creating pathways to advantage through food innovation networks
Role: CoInvestigator
Amount funded: $75,000
Year Funded: 2010
Duration: 1
Funded by: Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Perspectives of family physicians on computer-assisted screening for psychosocial risks – A qualitative study
Role: Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $2,918
Year Funded: 2008
Duration: 2
Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Perspectives of healthcare providers on computer-assisted psychosocial risk screening – A step towards ‘Health Promoting’ hospitals
Role: Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $10,000
Year Funded: 2009
Duration: 5
Funded by: Other...
Other funding: Dean’s Fund New Faculty Grant

Resilience among South Asian immigrant women with experiences of domestic abuse
Role: Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $6,000
Year Funded: 2009
Duration: 2
Funded by: Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Curriculum Vitae (C.V. file):

CV of Farah Ahmad