Zubair Kabir

Zubair Kabir is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health and Academic Director of the Master of Public Health (MPH) program at University College Cork (UCC). He holds dual roles in academia and global health research, serving as the country lead for Ireland in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study since 2016. His work has contributed to over 70 GBD-related publications, earning him recognition as the most cited Irish researcher in his field since 2019.

Dr. Kabir’s research focuses on tobacco control, alcohol policy, and non-communicable disease (NCD) epidemiology, with a particular emphasis on policy-informed research. He pioneered the Irish CHD IMPACT model, instrumental in shaping Ireland’s cardiovascular health strategy and Healthy Ireland Framework. His contributions to the GBD Study have impacted global health policy, including WHO reports and OECD publications.

He leads the Irish Burden of Disease (I-BoD) Research Group, fostering capacity-building through training master’s students in BoD methodology. His recent work includes alcohol policy research (e.g., estimating alcohol-attributable deaths in Ireland), tuberculosis epidemiology in migrant populations, and mental health studies among cancer patients. He also investigates the health impacts of obesity, aging, and long-COVID in Ireland.

Dr. Kabir has secured significant funding, including EU COST Action grants and HRB awards, and serves on national health committees such as the Health Research Consent Declaration Committee (HRCDC). His awards include the American College of Chest Physicians Fellowship (2014) for excellence in tobacco control advocacy.

His academic career spans postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard and Trinity College Dublin, and he holds a PG Diploma in Higher Teaching & Learning. Key contributions include co-editing Tobacco Use Insights, co-authoring WHO policy reports, and advancing dental public health through GBD-linked studies on oral cancer.