Dr. Carol Cancelliere, BSc (Hons), DC, Masters candidate, Master of Public Health program, Lakehead University, ThunderBay, Ontario
Dr. Carol Cancelliere attained her Honours Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto in 2000, majoring in biology and physiology. She graduated from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in 2004 with clinic honours and immediately undertook fulltime practice.
Her motivation to enrol in the Master of Public Health program was to influence health care mainly by working in the areas of 1) health promotion, and 2) integrated health care whereby chiropractic plays a major role and is accessible to all Canadians.
Her thesis topic will focus on health in the workplace since this is where a majority of adults spend their day. It is anticipated that employers will be seeking effective and cost-effective programs given the realities of an aging and declining workforce. There is a lack of expertise regarding health programs at the workplace. A short supply of occupational physicians in Ontario further emphasizes the need to widen expertise in this area.
The overall objective of her research team is to develop an innovative multidisciplinary workplace health promotion and wellness program to improve presenteeism at the workplace. Presenteeism is defined as decreased on-the-job productivity. It is often a hidden cost to employers as workers are physically present but unable to perform at peak levels due to a health condition.
Her thesis will focus on Phase 1 of this objective which involves systematically reviewing the literature to: 1) understand the health issues affecting workers who work despite health problems; 2) determine which interventions are effective in reducing the impact of these health issues; and 3) identify characteristics of successfully implemented workplace health promotion and wellness programs. She will be supervised by Dr. David Cassidy DC, PhD, Dr.Med.Sc. Also on her committee are Dr. Pierre Côté, DC, PhD, Dr. Carlo Ammendolia, DC, PhD and Dr. Bill Montelpare, PhD.
Dr. Cancelliere has received several distinguished awards. In 2002, Dr. Cancelliere received the CIHR Health Professional Student Award. In 2003 she received the Association of Chiropractic Colleges Research Scholarship Award and in 2004 she was the recipient of the CMCC Best Research Project Award.