Marc White

“Participation in the workforce is recognized as a key social determinant of health and an important component of quality of life. Research in the UK found that being able to work was viewed as the sixth most important aspect of quality of life by healthy people, but for people with chronic disease being able to work was judged to be third most important aspect.

My research interests and activities related to CRWDP are: (i) the identification and translation of societal and workplace risk and protective factors that contribute to unnecessary or prolonged work disability, (ii) the intersection between these protective factors and their impact on work productivity and innovation, (iii) the impact of government legislation and regulation on primary, secondary and tertiary prevention, and (iv) the collection of baseline data and evaluation modeling to better assess the impact of policy change, its implementation and evaluation at various levels (societal, industry sector, organizational, workplace, and individual).”

Key Appointments

• Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia
• Executive Director, Canadian Institute for the Relief of Pain and Disability (1986 to present)
• From 2005 – 2008, he held an appointment as Research Fellow in Medicine, Harvard Medical School and at the Division of Rheumatology, Immunology & Allergy, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
• From 2003 – 2005, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada
• In 2001 and 2005, Dr. White and colleagues have won two awards for research excellence for original research from the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions
• Board member of the BC Collaborative for Disability Prevention
• Board member for the Canadian Pain Coalition.

Education

• Ph.D. (Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia);

Areas of expertise

Dr. Marc White is the co-founder and executive director of the Canadian Institute for the Relief of Pain and Disability which was established in 1985 in collaboration with (the Late) Dr. John McM. Mennell (Physical Medicine Consultant to the US Armed Forces). Dr. White is a Clinical Assistant Professor with the Department of Family Practice at the University of British Columbia and a principal investigator affiliated with AUTO21, Networks of Centres of Excellence.

Dr. White is the lead investigator for the Health and Work Productivity Web-Portal, an academic community partnership dedicated to translating best evidence on disability prevention and employee health. He has organized over 20 international and national conferences held in Canada, United States, United Kingdom and Europe. He has organized 5 international strategic meetings. He is an invited scientific reviewer for several journals including Canadian Family Physician, The Journal of Rheumatology, Injury Prevention (BMJ), and Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Research and Related Activities

• Research translation (R2P)
• Continuing medical education
• Disability prevention
• Consumer health education
• Primary care renewal
• Continuum of care
• Patient advocacy
• Community engagement
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Chronic musculoskeletal pain
• Health communication and return-to-work