Diane Lacaille MDCM, MHSc, FRCPC

Scientific Director, Arthritis Research Canada
Mary Pack Chair in Rheumatology Research
Professor, Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia

Dr. Lacaille is the team leader for the design and development of this program. She is a rheumatologist and the Scientific Director at Arthritis Research Canada. Her research focuses on employment issues for people with arthritis, and on evaluating and improving the quality of health care services for people with rheumatoid arthritis. this project builds on her prior employment research where she evaluated the impact of arthritis on employment, identified work-related risk factors for work disability in rheumatoid arthritis, explored the problems that people with arthritis experience at work because of their arthritis, and designed a tool for occupational therapists to assess the ergonomics of a person’s workplace. She developed this program by collaborating with the expertise of the multidisciplinary team assembled for this project.

Pamela Rogers, MA

Research Coordinator, Arthritis Research Centre of Canada.

Ms. Rogers is a research coordinator working with Dr Lacaille. She has a Masters in adult education and in educational film. She has been involved in many studies about employment and arthritis with Dr. Lacaille. Pamela was instrumental in developing the format and content of the program, as well as in pilot testing, and coordinating the randomized controlled trial that evaluated the effectiveness of the program.

Alison Stewart, MA, CVRP(F)

Vocational Rehabilitation Counsellor.

Ms. Stewart has a Master of Arts degree With Distinction in Counselling Psychology from UBC. She has been involved in the Making it WorkTM program since its inaugural beginnings as the facilitator of the on-line video group meetings and as the Vocational Rehabilitation Counsellor conducting all the assessments. She has been integral to the evaluation of randomized controlled trial of the program. Ms. Stewart has spent 25 years working with individuals with health and disability challenges to increase their opportunities for advancement and participation in society.

Astrid Knight, MSc

Research Coordinator, Arthritis Research Centre of Canada.

Ms. Knight is a research coordinator with many years of experience in the field of health research, and has a Masters of Science degree from the University of Oxford. Working with Dr. Lacaille, she was instrumental in supporting participants and data collection in the randomized controlled trial that evaluated the effectiveness of the program. She continues to support Making it Work in managing the online program content. 

Catherine Backman, PhD, OT(C), FCAOT

Senior Research Scientist, Arthritis Research Canada
Professor, Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, University of British Columbia

Dr. Backman is an occupational therapist with many years of experience in clinical and academic work. Her research areas include occupational therapy (OT), ergonomics, arthritis and employment research, and epidemiology. She provided expertise on the content and format of the eLearning modules, especially related to ergonomics and OT; she assisted in developing the teaching module for OTs on ergonomics and she led the development of the Ergonomic Assessment Tool for Arthritis (EATA) for use by occupational therapists.

John Esdaile, MD, MPH, FRCPC, FCAHS

Scientific Director Emeritus, Arthritis Research Canada,
Professor, Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia.

Dr. Esdaile is a rheumatologist and an internationally recognized senior scientist in clinical and health services research in arthritis. He provided research and clinical expertise in the development and evaluation of the program.

Janet Finlayson, MA, CCRC, RRP

Vocational Rehabilitation Counsellor, Emeritus, Clinical Practice Leader, GF Strong Rehab Centre, Vancouver BC

Ms. Finlayson has over 20 years experience in the fields of vocational rehabilitation counselling for people with inflammatory arthritis, education and counselling psychology. She has focused on helping people maximize their employability through job modifications and career planning. She contributed her expertise in developing the program content related to vocational counselling and job accommodations, and in the standardization of the vocational rehabilitation assessment by a vocational counsellor.

Vaughan Marshall, PhD. R. Psych., CRC, MCVP

Vocational Rehabilitation Counsellor, GF Strong Rehab Centre, University of British Columbia.

Vaughan Marshall is a psychologist who has worked in Vocational Rehab for 25 years at GF Strong Rehab Centre. She also teaches in the Counselling Psychology and Social Work programs at UBC. Vaughan has lived with RA since the age of 10 so she understands the challenges of working with arthritis from both professional and personal perspectives.

Alison Stewart, MA, CVRP(F)

Vocational Rehabilitation Counsellor.

Ms. Stewart has a Master of Arts degree With Distinction in Counselling Psychology from UBC. She has been involved in the Making it Work^TM program since its inaugural beginnings as the facilitator of the on-line video group meetings and as the Vocational Rehabilitation Counsellor conducting all the assessments. She has been integral to the evaluation of randomized controlled trial of the program. Ms. Stewart has spent 25 years working with individuals with health and disability challenges to increase their opportunities for advancement and participation in society.

Judy Village, CPE, CCPE, PhD 

Judy Village & Associates; 
Adjunct Faculty, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia

Ms. Village is a certified professional ergonomist with over 25 years of experience doing applied research, consulting and teaching in ergonomics. She works with numerous companies designing programs and interventions to reduce musculoskeletal injuries and collaborates with other researchers to study factors contributing to injuries in the workplace. She developed the ergonomics educational material and the Ergonomic Assessment Tool for Arthritis (EATA) for use by occupational therapists.

Monique AM Gignac, PhD

Senior Scientist, Health Care & Outcomes Research, University Health Network,
Associate Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.

Dr. Gignac is a Health Psychologist at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on psychosocial aspects of living with arthritis and on how people adapt to having a chronic illness, particularly on the coping strategies and the adaptations that people make in order to manage their job and to continue working. She provided her expertise in all aspects of program development, especially where it relates to adaptation and coping.

Randy Paterson, PhD

Cheryl Koehn

President, Arthritis Consumer Experts (ACE) and JointHealth^TM
http://www.jointhealth.org/

Ms. Koehn shares her experience as a person living with rheumatoid arthritis, and her extensive expertise in patient education and advocacy. She is the president of a national organization, Arthritis Consumer Experts and JointHealth™, which provides free, science-based information and education programs about arthritis. Her organization is also active in raising public awareness about arthritis and in advocacy. As a member of the team who developed this program, she provided a perspective of people living and working with arthritis.

Pam Montie

Consumer Advisory Board Member, Arthritis Research Canada.

Ms. Montie is a person living with rheumatoid arthritis. She has been active provincially, nationally, and internationally as an arthritis expert in advocacy, education and research. She has been a member of the Patient Advisory Board of Arthritis Research Canada, Patient Research Partner for the international group ’OMERACT’ (Outcome Measures in Rheumatology), ‘Canadian Cochrane Collaboration’, ’Patient Partners in Arthritis’, ’Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance’, and ’Arthritis Consumer Experts’. She was also a trained group leader for the Arthritis Self-Management Program, which empowers people with arthritis to manage the symptoms of their arthritis. As an active member of the team, she provided a perspective of people living with arthritis in all aspects of program development and she reviewed all material developed for people with arthritis. She was assisted in this role by other people with arthritis: Ms. Jay Fiddler and Ms. Marja Kauppi.

Otto Kamesek

Patient Advisory Board Member, Arthritis Research Canada.

Mr. Kamensek was a member of the Patient Advisory Board at Arthritis Research Canada. He collaborated with researchers in refining research questions, establishing patient ethics, and developing strategies to communicate research results to the public and policymakers.

He was also a past member of the Knowledge Exchange Task Force for the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis as well as the B.C. site coordinator for Patient Partners in Arthritis. Furthermore, Mr. Kamensek has studied with many prominent local and international artists and sculpts his experience with arthritis with clay. As an artist, his skill in visual design, aesthetics and internet technology was pivotal in the design of Making it Work^TM.

Margaret White, MIR

Research Associate, Arthritis Research Canada.

Ms. White is an experienced research associate in the fields of health education and health promotion. She has many years of experience in developing and evaluating health education programs. She was instrumental in conducting the focus groups that informed the development of the program, in assembling all the evidenced-based material and in developing the program content.