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Faculty Member

Xiaolin Wei MD, MPH, PhD

Email Address(es)
xiaolin.wei(at)utoronto.ca
Office Phone
416 978 2020
Office Address
582-155 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 3M7, Canada
Website(s)
Global Implementation Science Lab
Division(s)/Institute(s)
Clinical Public Health Division
Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation
Position
Professor
SGS Status
Full Member
Appointment Status
Tenured
Currently Accepting Doctoral Students?
Yes

Research Interests

  • Implementation Science
  • Antimicrobial resistance
  • Tuberculosis
  • Diabetes and hypertension
  • Primary care
  • Global health
  • One health

Biography

Xiaolin is a medical doctor, public health specialist, professor and the Dalla Lana Chair in Global Health Policy in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH), University of Toronto.  He was elected as a Fellow of Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2022. Xiaolin is the faculty co-lead for implementation science. He has served as a board member and has served as the Secretary General and Vice President of the International Union of Lung Disease from 2012 to 2020. He holds adjunct/visiting professorship with the Johns Hopkins University, USA, the University of St. Andrews, and University of Leeds, UK, Fudan University and Peking University, China. He regularly provides consultancy to the World Health Organization regarding tuberculosis, antimicrobial resistance and implementation science/ clinical trials design.

Education & training history

  • 2012- Fellow, Faculty of Public Health, UK
  • 2004 – PhD, University of Toronto, Canada
  • 2001 – MSc in Health Admin, Peking University, China
  • 1998 – MD, Jining Medical School, China

Teaching responsibilities

  • CHL5632H: Application of Implementation Science in Global Health
  • CHL5631H: Integrating Public Health and Clinical Care: The case of TB
  • HAD5778H: Comparative Health Systems and Policy (with Dr. Sara Allin)
  • CHL5005H (PhD stream): Introduction to Public Health Research: 2017-2019
  • Full SGS member, supervising PhD student in Health Service Research in IHPME

Ongoing Research Projects (as PI)

2023-2025        Evaluating the effectiveness and implementation process of population-level interventions to reduce inappropriate use of antibiotics in primary care settings to inform policy development in Canada, by Canadian Institutes of Health Research

2021-2023.       Developing a tool kit to build vaccine confidence and ensure equitable COVID-19 vaccination implementation strategies in low-and-middle income countries: a multi-stakeholder implementation science and co-development study, by Canadian Institutes of Health Research

2022-2023.        Implementing a telemedicine and remote-mentoring platform to provide integrated noncommunicable disease and COVID- 19 care in primary care facilities in rural Pakistan, by Canadian Institutes of Health Research

2020-2023        Developing integrated guidelines for health care workers in hospital and primary healthcare facilities in response to Covid-19 pandemic in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), 2020-2022, by Canadian Institutes of Health Research

2019-2024.       Antibiotic stewardship program in primary care facilities to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory tract infections: a clustered randomised controlled trial and follow-up study in rural China, 2019-2024, by China Primary Care Foundation

Research Summary

My academic contribution has been focused on disease control and primary care in four areas: 1) primary care policy; 2) antimicrobial resistance (AMR); 3) tuberculosis (TB); and 4) hypertension and diabetes. This are all high profile global and local public health challenges. My research program has been strongly linked to creative professional activities in employing implementation science frameworks to change practice and health policies in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Through my research, I have established extensive partnerships with health authorities, NGOs and academics in several LMICs (including China, the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Uganda and Swaziland). I have led randomized trials to change clinical practice and make impacts at the policy level in areas of antimicrobial resistance, tuberculosis control and diabetes/ hypertension care. I currently lead a pragmatic trial to investigate the effect of employing telemedicine to improve care for hypertension and COVID-19 in rural Pakistan. I have published over 160 peer reviewed research papers, and held over $12m research funding as the principal investigator from MRC, DFID, CIHR, StopTB Partnership and HK RGC.

Recent selected publications :

Wei X*, Hicks JP, Zhang Z, Haldane V, Pasang P, Li L, Yin T, Zhang B, Li Y, Pan Q, Liu X, Walley J, Hu J. Effectiveness of a comprehensive package based on electronic medication monitors at improving treatment outcomes among tuberculosis patients in Tibet: a multicentre randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2024 Jan 31: S0140-6736(23)02270-5.
Wei X, Zhang W. The hidden threat of subclinical tuberculosis. Lancet Infect Dis. 2024 Mar 12:S1473-3099(24)00069-0. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(24)00069-0.

Litvinjenko S, Magwood O, Wu S, Wei X*. Burden of tuberculosis among vulnerable populations worldwide: an overview of systematic reviews. Lancet Infect Dis. 2023 Dec;23(12):1395-1407. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(23)00372-9.

Wu S, Li Y, Mishra S, Bodner K, Baral S, Kwong JC, Wei X*. Effect of the incremental protection of previous infection against Omicron infection among individuals with a hybrid of infection- and vaccine-induced immunity: a population-based cohort study in Canada. Int J Infect Dis. 2023;127:69-73.

Wu S, Tannous E, Haldane V, Ellen ME, Wei X*. Barriers and facilitators of implementing interventions to improve appropriate antibiotic use in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review based on the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Implement Sci. 2022;17(1):30.

Dodd W, Brubacher LJ, Kipp A, Wyngaarden S, Haldane V, Ferrolino H, Wilson K, Servano D Jr, Lau L, Wei X*. Navigating fear and care: The lived experiences of community-based health actors in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Soc Sci Med. 2022;308:115222.

Haldane V, Li BP, Ge S, Huang JZ, Huang H, Sadutshang L, Wei X*. Exploring the translation process for multilingual implementation research studies: a collaborative autoethnography. BMJ Glob Health. 2022;7(5).

Wei, X., Zhang Z, Chong M, Hicks J, Gong W, Zou G, Zhong J, Walley, J.D., Upshur R, Yu, M. 2021, Effect of a package of risk-based pharmaceutical and lifestyle interventions on patients with hypertension and/or diabetes in rural China: a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial, PLoS Med 18(7): e1003694. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pmed.1003694

Zou G, Zhang W, King R, Zhang Z, Walley J, Gong W, Yu M, Wei X*. Process Evaluation of a Clustered Randomized Control Trial of a Comprehensive Intervention to Reduce the Risk of Cardiovascular Events in Primary Health Care in Rural China. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(11).

Haldane V, Ratnapalan S, Perera N, Zhang Z, Ge S, Choi M, Lau LL, Samaraweera S, Dodd W, Walley J, Wei X*.: Codevelopment of COVID-19 infection prevention and control guidelines in lower-middle-income countries: the ‘SPRINT’ principles. BMJ Glob Health 2021, 6(8).

Lau LL, Hung N, Go DJ, Ferma J, Choi M, Dodd W, Wei X. Knowledge, attitudes and practices of COVID-19 among income-poor households in the Philippines: A cross-sectional study. J Glob Health. 2020;10(1):011007.

Haldane V, Zhang Z, Abbas RF, Dodd W, Lau LL, Kidd MR, Rouleau, K., Zou, G., Chao, Z., Upshur, R.,Walley, J, Wei X*. National primary care responses to COVID-19: a rapid review of the literature. BMJ Open. 2020;10(12):e041622

Wei X*, Deng S, Haldane V, Blacklock C, Zhang W, Walley J, King R, et al. Understanding complex interventions to reduce antibiotic prescribing in rural China: a process evaluation of a randomised controlled trial. Journal of health services research & policy. 2020;25(2):94-103.

Wei X, Zhang Z, Hicks JP, Walley JD, King R, Newell JN, Yin, J., Zeng, J., Guo, Y., Lin, M., Upshur, R. E. G., Sun, Q. “Long-term outcomes of an educational intervention to reduce antibiotic prescribing for childhood upper respiratory tract infections in rural China: Follow-up of a cluster-randomised controlled trial”. PLoS Med. 2019;16(2):e1002733.

Zhang Z, Dawkins B, Hicks JP, Walley JD, Hulme C, Elsey H., Deng SM., Lin M., Zeng J., Wei, X*. “Cost-effectiveness analysis of a multi-dimensional intervention to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for children with upper respiratory tract infections in China”. Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH. 2018;23(10):1092-100.

Wei X, Zhang Z, Walley JD, Hicks JP, Zeng J, Deng S, Zhou Y, Yin J, Newell JN, Sun Q, Zou G, Guo Y, Upshur R, Lin M. “Effect of a training and educational intervention for physicians and caregivers on antibiotic prescribing for upper respiratory tract infections in children at primary care facilities in rural China: a cluster-randomised controlled trial”. Lancet Glob Health. 2017;5(12):e1258-e67.

Walker IF, Shi OM, Hicks JP, Elsey H, Wei X., Menzies D., Falzon D, Migliori GB, Perez-Guzman C, Vargas MH, Garcia-Garcia L, Osornio JS, Ponce-De-Leon A, Van der Walt M, Newell JN. “Analysis of loss to follow up in 4,099 multidrug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis patients”. European Respiratory Journal. 2019; 54(1)

Wei X, Hicks JP, Pande P, Zhang Z, Haldane V, Liu XQ, et al. “Protocol for a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of improving tuberculosis patients’ treatment adherence via electronic monitors and an app versus usual care in Tibet”. Trials. 2019;20(1):273

Li B, Zhang XL, Guo J, Wang J, Pianduo B, Wei XL, Ying TT, Hu J. “The Prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis in Tibet Autonomous Region, China in 2014”. The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease. 2019;23(6):735-740

Ge E, Li D, Luo M, Tsui KWS, Waye MMY, Shen X, Wei X*. “Transmission of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Shanghai: roles of residential status”. The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease. 2018;22(12):1462-8.

Wei, X., Walley, J.D., Zhang, Z., Zou, G., Gong, W., Deng, S., Harries, A.D., Hicks, J.P., Chong, M.K.C., Newell, J.N., Zhong, J., Yu, M. 2017. “Implementation of a comprehensive intervention for patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease in rural China: A pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial”. PLoS One. 12, e0183169.

Wei X*, Li H, Yang N, Wong YSS, Chong MCK, Shi, L, Wong MCS, Xu J, Zhang D, Tang J, Li DKT, Meng Q, Griffiths S, (2015). “Changes of primary care quality in two megacities of China between 2011 and 2013: a multivariate difference-in-difference analysis”, Bulletin of the World Health Organization 93:407-16

Full publication list available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xiaolin_Wei2

News Articles

Managing Diabetes and Hypertension Remotely in Rural Pakistan

“A Perfect Storm”: DLSPH Researchers Fight Vaccine Hesitancy in the Philippines

U of T Researchers Receive Grant to Increase Tuberculosis Treatment Adherence in Tibet

U of T study finds long-term success in reducing unnecessary antibiotics prescriptions in China