[13] In October 2004, while he was acting editor of the BMJ, Abbasi became the recipient of an unusually large number of responses to a BMJ article written by Derek Summerfield, who published his personal view over what he saw as organised violations of the fourth Geneva Convention by the Israeli army in Gaza and their effects on public health.

The reaction to that article was later analysed by Karl Sabbagh and revealed the hostility that editors can receive when publishing on a sensitive issue.

[14] In response to the messages sent to the journal's website and the over 1000 emails sent directly to Abbasi, a sample number were published on-line within 24 hours of submission.

Sabbagh explained that the published messages "were a skewed sample of what had been received, as abusive and obscene contributions were not posted",[14] In response to these messages, many of which "abused the BMJ or Abbasi personally",[14] Abbasi published an editorial entitled: "Should journals mix medicine and politics?"

Abbasi noted that the messages were "largely biased and inflammatory on both sides"[15] and that a number of people felt that dialogue could resolve the conflict.

[20] Together with Bobbie Jacobson from the Johns Hopkins University and Gabriel Scally, they described the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic as "too little, too late, too flawed", with no adequate plan for community-based case-finding, testing, and contact tracing.

[21] Their findings were published in the New Statesman,[21] and discussed in Medscape,[22] the British Journal of Social Psychology[23] and the Practice Nurse.

[25] During the pandemic he has written on the politicization of science,[26] and following the global death toll from COVID-19 surpassing two million by February 2021, he used the term "social murder" to call for political accountability.

[4] He has consulted for a number of organisations including Harvard University, the NHS, the World Health Organization and McKinsey & Co.[4] He has also made contributions on radio and television,[4] particularly with Mark Porter.

In this role, Abbasi has acted as a sceptic to BBC Radio 4's weekly medical programme, Inside Health.