Dr. Ali-Ridha has also been involved in clinical research with the Head of Ophthalmology research at the University of Toronto studying novel techniques for the earlier diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy at St. Michael's Hospital.
He completed his Ophthalmology residency at McGill University, winning first prize in research and serving as the research director at the Council of Canadian Ophthalmology Residents. Following his passion for teaching, he won the outstanding commitment and achievement to medical student teaching award and the excellence in teaching for clinical practice award from the Dean at McGill University.
Dr. Ali-Ridha has received several other awards including the Student Leadership award from the Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS), the Award in Education for Collaborator Competency at the University of Ottawa, the Award of Excellence in Ophthalmic Research from the Canadian Ophthalmology Society for research in minimally invasive glaucoma surgeries and the McGill Strategic Planning and Community Initiative (SPCI) award. Additionally, he was a finalist for the Excelsior award and nominated for the John Ruedy Award for Innovation in Medical Education and Dr. M. Ian Bowmer Award for Leadership in Social Accountability.
Dr. Ali-Ridha has developed the first interactive online teaching curriculum in Ophthalmology for medical students and residents, a special community program for the prevention of eye injuries and trauma with the CNIB and the first community sharing platform for resident surgical videos at McGill. He was also involved in a randomized clinical trial to optimize the use of eye drops for the future of cataract surgery. He now enjoys giving lectures to medical students at the University of Toronto and teaching local emergency and family medicine physicians including sharing lectures and videos from his online teaching website and developing hands-on training sessions in ophthalmic examination skills.
Dr. Ali-Ridha performs cataract, glaucoma, eyelid and multiple laser surgeries and currently has hospital privileges in the Markham Stouffville, North York, Mackenzie Health and Southlake hospitals.
