Dr. Ahmer A. Karimuddin

Dr. Ahmer Karimuddin is a Colorectal Surgeon working at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, BC. He is Co-Director of the General Surgery Residency Training Program and an Associate Professor (Clinical) at the University of British Columbia. He has special expertise in the management of cancer of the colon and rectum, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and proctology (hemorrhoids, anal fissures, fecal incontinence).

Education

Dr. Karimuddin completed medical school at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario 2001. He completed general surgery training at the University of Saskatchewan in 2007, with a year completing a Masters in Adult Education, with a focus on surgical education and CanMEDS. He completed a fellowship in Colon and Rectal Surgery at the University of Toronto, with research focusing on clinical outcomes of early rectal cancer.

Interests

Within the field of colon and rectal surgery, Dr. Karimuddin has a particular interest in laparoscopic colorectal surgery, colorectal cancer, colonoscopy, inflammatory bowel disease and the pelvic pouch procedure. His research interests include patient outcomes (clinical and PROs) in these areas and improvements in patient care, with a focus on quality improvement of outcomes and optimizing patient care and recovery through Enhanced Recovery After Surgery. Dr. Karimuddin is also focused on surgical education research, with a focus on leadership, diversity and wellbeing in postgraduate surgical education.

Designations

Dr. Karimuddin has maintained a strong focus on surgical education in his practice, and served for three years as the Discipline Specific Site Leader for Surgery at the Island Medical Program of the University of British Columbia. He has received the Excellence in Clerkship Teaching award of the University of British Columbia twice (2009 and 2011), along with the Preceptor Teaching Excellence award (2012). He is currently the Co-Director for the General Surgery Residency Program at the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Karimuddin was one of the first surgeons in Canada to have completed the Train the Trainer program for colonoscopy and serves as an assessor of Colonoscopy skills for the Colon Screening Program in British Columbia.

Dr. Karimuddin is the President of the British Columbia Surgical Society, and has been past president of the General Surgeons of British Columbia. He served as the Surgical Lead for the British Columbia Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Collaborative, and is currently on the Governance Committee for Enhanced Recovery Canada, a Canadian Patient Safety Institute Initiative.  Dr. Karimuddin has also participated in activities of Crohns Colitis Canada in the development of guidelines and provision of research grants.

He is an active member of the Colorectal Cancer Tumour Group, and has participated in development of Clinical Guidelines for Colorectal Cancer at the BC Cancer Agency. He is also involved in the development and maintenance of screening guidelines for colorectal cancer in BC.