Kevin Shield, Ph.D.

Alcohol, Cancer and the Potential Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Future Alcohol-attributable Cancer Rates

Kevin Shield, Ph.D.
Head, Collaborating Centre in Addiction and Mental Health Pan American Health Organization Assistant Professor, Division of Epidemiology Dalla Lana School of Public Health University of Toronto

CPFP Host: Andrew Seidenberg, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Kevin D. Shield is an Independent Scientist at the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research and the Head of the World Health Organization (WHO)/Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Collaborating Centre in Addiction and Mental Health at CAMH. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Epidemiology Division of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Shield’s multi-disciplinary public health surveillance research programs generate scientific data that inform individuals, clinicians and policymakers on how best to reduce the public health harms caused by alcohol and other drugs. These research programs include:

  • Measurement of alcohol consumption and the occurrence of alcohol-use disorders at the individual, regional, country and global levels (see the Global Information System on Alcohol and Health)
     
  • Measurement of the proportion of people with alcohol and/or drug use disorders who are receiving treatment for their disorders
     
  • Assessment of the association between the consumption of alcohol and the occurrence of communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases and injuries (through both primary and secondary epidemiological data analyses)
     
  • Estimation of the first- and second-hand mortality and morbidity attributable to alcohol consumption at the country and global levels

     
  • Assessment of the effectiveness of public health policies, such as taxation, which aim to reduce the harms caused by alcohol

Dr. Shield's research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization. The importance and impact of Dr. Shield’s work has also been recognized through numerous awards, including the 2018 CIHR-IPPH Trailblazer Award in Population and Public Health Research in the Early Career category.