Biography
Dr Sheikh M Alif is a senior lecturer in Public Health and Nursing, a clinical epidemiologist and a respiratory health researcher with 18 years of academic and research experience in Australia and internationally.
Alif's research examines how occupational and environmental exposures influence asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung function, chronic disease and population health. He has expertise in large-scale cohort studies, data linkage, occupational exposure assessment, biostatistics, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. He has led or contributed to commissioned research for Safe Work Australia and WorkSafe Victoria, including national occupational lung disease research and the respiratory health screening of stonemasons. He also contributes to the Global Burden of Disease Study, ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE), Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study (TAHS), European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) and several other international respiratory epidemiology collaborations.
Alif has more than 50,000 Google Scholar citations and an h-index of 45, with publications in The Lancet, Nature Medicine, Thorax, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine and Occupational and Environmental Medicine. His achievements include the 2024 CAPHIA Research Excellence Award and Federation University’s 2025 Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for Research Excellence. He is an experienced HDR supervisor, journal editor and professional leader who welcomes research collaboration, media commentary and expert consultation.
Available for
HDR Supervision
Professional Comment
HDR Examiner
More about Alif
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Epidemiology and Population Health, The University of Melbourne
- Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Education, Federation University Australia
- Master of Public Health in Epidemiology, North South University, Bangladesh
- Bachelor of Dental Surgery, Bangladesh Dental College, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Areas of interest
- Occupational and environmental epidemiology
- Occupational lung diseases, silicosis and workplace respiratory hazards
- Asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung function
- Air pollution, workplace exposure and environmental health
- Clinical epidemiology and chronic disease epidemiology
- Global burden of disease and population health
- Biostatistics, data linkage and large-scale cohort studies
- Systematic reviews, meta-analyses and evidence synthesis
- Workplace health promotion and occupational disease prevention
Areas of expertise
Alif specialises in designing and analysing longitudinal population-based studies that examine how occupational and environmental exposures affect respiratory health and chronic disease. His methodological expertise includes occupational exposure assessment, spirometry and lung-function interpretation, cohort and linked-data analysis, regression and survival methods, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, research translation and technical report development. He is available to comment on occupational lung disease, silica and dust exposure, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung function, air pollution, epidemiology, public health and worker health.
Projects and partnerships
- Respiratory science research program with the Melbourne School of Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne.
- Occupational and environmental exposures, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung-function decline in population-based cohorts (investigator).
- Global Burden of Disease Study (international collaborator across respiratory disease, cancer, risk factors and population health).
- Occupational lung disease and worker-health projects commissioned by Safe Work Australia and WorkSafe Victoria (chief investigator / associate investigator).
- Generative artificial intelligence in public health education (systematic review lead with Monash University collaborators).
Grants
- Alif, S. M. (Chief Investigator). 2024. Federation University Early and Mid-Career Research Grant. ($10,000)
- Sim, M. R., Glass, D., Hoy, R., Xie, S., and Alif, S. M. 2019–20. Respiratory Health Screening of Stonemasons in Victoria. WorkSafe Victoria. ($492,887)
- Sim, M. R., Abramson, M. J., Glass, D., Hoy, R., and Alif, S. M. 2018–19. Occupational Lung Diseases in Australia. Safe Work Australia. ($155,147)
- Benke, G., Kelsall, H., McDonald, S., Golec, R., and Alif, S. M. 2021. Lead Lighting Evidence Review. WorkSafe Victoria. ($66,000)
- Alif, S. M. 2018. France–Australia Science Innovation Collaboration Fellowship, Rod Rickards Fellowship Scheme. ($10,000)
Awards
- 2026: Federation University Staff Travel Grant
- 2025: Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for Excellence, Research Excellence, Early Career Researcher, Federation University Australia
- 2024: CAPHIA Research Excellence Award, Early Career Academic category
- 2024–25: Letters of Commendation for outstanding Student Evaluation of Learning and Teaching performance, Federation University Australia
- 2016: International Trainee Scholarship and Abstract Scholarship, American Thoracic Society
- 2015: Best Oral Presentation Award, Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand Victorian Branch Meeting
- 2014–16: Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand Travel Awards
Current
- PhD student, Federation University, 'Gestational diabetes mellitus among migrant women in Australia', supervisor.
- PhD student, Federation University, 'Dietary diversity and role of agency experienced by CALD communities in LaTrobe City, Victoria, Australia', supervisor.
- PhD student, Monash University, 'Association of serum uric acid with cognitive and physical function in older adults', associate supervisor.
Past
- PhD student, Federation University, 'Oral health among children of Islamic boarding schools in Pakistan: a mixed-method study', supervisor.
- PhD student, Federation University, 'Breast cancer and cardiotoxicity: a scoping review, nationwide cohort study and evidence-based pharmacological interventions', supervisor.
- Epidemiology and clinical epidemiology
- Biostatistics and quantitative research methods
- Public health and population health
- Occupational and environmental health
- Health promotion and determinants of health
- Public health ethics and Indigenous health
- Health economics
- Respiratory health and chronic disease
- Research methods, data analysis and evidence synthesis
Specialist roles
- Course Coordinator, Master of Public Health, Federation University Australia
- Course Coordinator, Diploma of Health, Federation University Australia
- Honorary Senior Fellow in Respiratory Science, The University of Melbourne
- Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash University
- Associate Editor, Occupational and Environmental Medicine
- Associate Editor, Air
- Associate Editor, Frontiers in Public Health
- Former Convenor, Occupational and Environmental Lung Diseases Special Interest Group, Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand
- Executive Committee Member, Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease Working Party, Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand
- Former Expert Advisor, National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry, Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
- Former Medical Research Future Fund Grant Review Committee member, Assistant Chair and assessor
Professional association memberships
- Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists (full member)
- Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand
- Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australasia
- Alif, S. M., Glass, D., Abramson, M. J., Hoy, R., and Sim, M. R. (2020). Occupational lung diseases in Australia, 2006–2019. Safe Work Australia.
- Sim, M. R., Collie, A., Hoy, R., and Alif, S. M. (2020). Return to work and vocational rehabilitation support for workers suffering from silicosis. WorkCover Queensland.
- Benke, G., Alif, S. M., McDonald, S., Golec, R., and Kelsall, H. (2021). Lead lighting evidence review report. WorkSafe Victoria.
- Publications
Occupational exposures and incidence of asthma over two decades in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1136/thorax-2024-222307
Global burden of amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and opioid use in 204 countries, 1990-2023: a Global Burden of Disease Study
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1038/s41591-025-04137-0
Global, regional, and national burden of chronic respiratory diseases and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, 1990-2023: a Global Burden of Disease study
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1038/s41591-025-04077-9
Heart failure related cardiotoxicity in breast cancer survivors: a scoping review
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1186/s40959-025-00434-2
Serum uric acid levels and longitudinal change in cognitive function in older adults: a sex-stratified population-based study
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1093/gerona/glaf296
Global burden of lower respiratory infections and aetiologies, 1990-2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1016/S1473-3099(25)00689-9
Burden of chronic respiratory disease in Asia, 1990-2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1016/S2213-2600(25)00404-7
Oral health seeking behaviours and attitudes: Perspectives and practices of parents and teachers in Islamic boarding schools in Pakistan
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1016/j.ssaho.2026.102727
Global, regional, and national burden of breast cancer among females, 19902023, with forecasts to 2050: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1016/S1470-2045(25)00730-2
Global, regional and national burden of ischemic heart disease attributable to suboptimal diet, 1990-2023: a Global Burden of Disease study
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1038/s41591-026-04250-8
Global, regional, and national burden of meningitis, its risk factors, and aetiologies, 1990-2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1016/S1474-4422(26)00101-8
Global burden of enteric infectious diseases, diarrhoeal diseases, and corresponding aetiologies, 19902023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1016/S1473-3099(26)00194-5
Global burden of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, 1990-2023, and projections to 2050: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1016/S2468-1253(26)00011-7
Global, regional, and national burden of tuberculosis and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis by HIV status, 1990-2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1016/S1473-3099(26)00295-1