Shireen Kassam is a Consultant Haematologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at King’s College Hospital, London with a specialist interest in the treatment of patients with lymphoma (cancer of the lymphatic system). She is also passionate about promoting plant-based nutrition for the prevention and reversal of chronic diseases and for maintaining optimal health after treatment for cancer.
She qualified as a medical doctor in 2000, initially training in general medicine, and gaining Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP; 2003). She then specialised in Haematology and achieved Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists (FRCPath; 2008). During training, she took time out to undertake a PhD (University of London, 2011). Her research investigated the role of selenium, an essential micronutrient, in sensitising cancer cells to chemotherapy. She was able to show that supra-nutritional doses of selenium could enhance the action of chemotherapy in the laboratory. She has published a number of peer-reviewed papers in the field of lymphoma.
Shireen discovered the power of nutrition for the prevention and treatment of disease in 2013 and since then has been following a whole food plant-based diet. She has immersed herself in the science of nutrition and health and completed the eCornell certification in plant-based nutrition. In 2019 she became certified as a Lifestyle Medicine Physician by the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine. She is also a certified CHIP (Complete Health Improvement Program) practitioner.
Shireen founded Plant-based health professionals UK in 2017, a non-profit organisation whose mission is to provide evidence-based education on plant-based nutrition.
Since then she has been appointed as Visiting Professor of Plant-Based Nutrition at Winchester University where she has developed and facilitates the UK’s only University-based CPD-accredited course on plant-based nutrition for healthcare professionals. In January 2021, Shireen co-founded and launched the UK’s first CQC registered, online, multi-disciplinary, plant-based lifestyle medicine healthcare service, Plant-Based Health Online.
Timestamp for talk:
- 1:57 – Shireen sums up plant based being better for community, animals and health
- 5:32 – Shireen talks about her registered lifestyle medicine service
- 7:07 – Shireen talks about the wider impact on families with lifestyle medicine
- 13:07 – Shireen talks about her medical background and plant based beginnings
- 15:57 – Shireen talks about the myths surrounding protein
- 17:11 – Shireen talks about a study narrowing down on health problems and reasons
- 18:17 – Shireen unpacks why the NHS doesn’t currently fund more into lifestyle medicine
- 22:13 – Shireen explores genetics and socioeconomic factors
Any links discussed:
Plant-based health professionals
@plantbasedhpuk @PBhealthonline
