Babul, Shelina

Dr. Shelina Babul is the Associate Director and Sports Injury Specialist with the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit, BC Children’s Hospital. She focuses primarily on sport and recreational evidence-based research and knowledge implementation, with a particular specialization in concussions/traumatic brain injuries and their prevention, recognition, treatment, and management. She is the Director of BC Children’s Hospital Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program, a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, UBC; an Investigator with the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, UBC. She is the chair and/or member of several provincial and national concussion advisory committees. Dr. Babul is the recipient of a BC Hockey Safety Award and the Brain Injury Association of Canada Prevention and Awareness Award and was nominated for the 2019 YWCA Women of Distinction Award.

Dr. Babul’s area of focus include:

1) Identifying and addressing critical gaps in injury prevention;

2) TBI/Concussion-specific research and related strategies to promote uptake of proven and effective interventions; and

3) Coordination of TBI/concussion efforts locally, provincially, and nationally.

Dr. Babul developed the Concussion Awareness Training Tool (CATT). Launched in 2013, the CATT concussion training and resources are being used nationally and internationally, including in Japan, Lebanon, and Uganda. As part of the National Concussion Harmonization Project, CATT is free, available in English and French, and relevant to medical professionals, coaches, parents and caregivers, school professionals, players and high-performance athletes, workers and workplaces, and those supporting survivors of intimate partner violence. To date, over 60,000 individuals from around the world have completed the CATT training, and the tool receives approximately 5,500 website visits a month. BC School Sports (450+ schools) and BC Hockey (14,000+ members) have both mandated the CATT training for their coaches and support staff, as well as over 35 other sporting associations and schools for their coaches and teachers.

Dr. Babul’s experience in the field of concussion/TBI includes the publication of numerous chapters and peer-reviewed papers, presentations at provincial, national, and international conferences, membership on provincial and national committees and review boards, and interviews with provincial, national, and internationals news media and magazines.