Speakers

Dr Nick Cavill

“Evidence-based policy on physical activity: The tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes”

Nick Cavill is a director of an independent public health consultancy, a research associate of the University of Oxford BHF Health Promotion Research Group, and an honorary senior research fellow at the University of Salford. He specialises in the development of policy and programmes on sustainable transport and the links to physical activity.

He is currently a specialist advisor to the National Obesity Observatory, and a member of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Programme Development Group on walking and cycling. He was one of the core team for the WHO Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) for walking and cycling; a member of the Dept of Health’s Physical Activity Editorial Group; and a member of the World Cancer Research Fund policy panel. He has worked at both Departments of Health and Transport, and was formerly at the Health Education Authority, where he was head of the physical activity programme from 1994 – 2000. Nick recently completed his PhD at the University of Salford, focusing on national policy approaches to promoting physical activity, and was made a member of the Faculty of Public Health through distinction.

Dr Kong Chen

“The Hare and the Tortoise revisited: Measuring physical activity and sedentary behaviour”

Kong Chen was trained in mechanical engineering (BS), biomedical engineering (PhD), and clinical investigation (MS). He has been working in the area of physical activity monitoring for the last 15 years, developing and using a variety of tools extending from portable sensors to metabolic chambers. He was the principal investigator of two NIH R01 grants for method development of objective physical activity monitors in adults and children. Kong is also an expert in quantifying human energy expenditure, autonomic system activity, physical fitness, and body composition in healthy and obese adolescents and adults, as well as in patients with chronic diseases. Currently, he is a clinical investigator of the Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Branch of the National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney diseases, focusing on energy and body weight regulation, while collaborating with scientists from the US, Iceland, Japan, Sweden, and China.

Associate Professor Malcolm Collins

Prof Collins is a Chief Specialist Scientist at the Medical Research Council (MRC) and an Associate Professor within the Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa.  He obtained a BSc degree majoring in Biochemistry and Physiology and  a BSc (Hons) degree Cum Laude in Biochemistry from the University of Stellenbosch. He was awarded a PhD in Medical Biochemistry on collagen gene expression from UCT in 1993. After completing Post-Doctoral work also in extracellular matrix protein gene expression at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, he joined the Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at the MRC and UCT. His main area of research is the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries and other exercise-realted phenotypes.  He has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles or book chapters. He is a Fellow of the European College of Sports Sciences.

Professor Roger Enoka

“Adaptations in Physical Performance from Childhood to Senescence”

Roger M. Enoka completed undergraduate training in physical education at the University of Otago in New Zealand (1968-1970) prior to obtaining an MS degree in biomechanics and a PhD in kinesiology from the University of Washington in Seattle (1974-1981).  He has held faculty positions in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science and the Department of Physiology at the University of Arizona in Tucson (1981-1993) and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (1993-1996).  He is currently professor and chair in the Department of Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder.  His research generally focuses on the neuromuscular mechanisms that mediate acute adjustments and chronic adaptations in response to physical activity performed by humans, with current projects on age-associated changes in neuromuscular function and the fatigue experienced by persons with multiple sclerosis.

Associate Professor Claude Goulet

“Minimising risk in high risk settings: Do the 3 E’s of injury prevention (education, enforcement or engineering) work?”

Dr. Claude Goulet, PhD, is professor in the Department of Physical Education at Laval University, in the province of Québec, Canada. For more than 15 years, his research has been related to safety promotion in sport and physical activities. From 1998 to 2006, he was head of sport safety research at the Québec Ministry of Education, Leisure, and Sport (QMELS). The QMELS is responsible for enforcing a unique law, the Act Respecting Safety in Sports. In accordance with this act, one of the QMELS’s orientations is to “ensure that the safety and physical security and well–‐being of participants are provided for during sports and recreational activities”. Therefore, the research projects of Dr. Goulet cover many spheres of sport participation ranging from informal to organised activities, and from recreational practice to the highest level of sport participation. His interests lie in the epidemiology, the aetiology, the surveillance, and the prevention of sport and physical activity injuries. In addition to his interest in sport safety Dr. Goulet’s research also covers the psychosocial factors associated with the use of performance enhancing substances.

Dr Dale Hanson

“Closing the Gap Between Injury Prevention Research and Community Safety Promotion Practice”

Dr Dale Hanson graduated from Flinders University of South Australia in 1982, initially pursuing a career in General Practice, and subsequently in Emergency Medicine. Since 1986 he has been working as Staff Emergency Physician at Mackay Base Hospital, in regional Queensland.  He is acting Director of Clinical Training at Mackay Base Hospital and Director of Prevocational Training in North Queensland with the Rural Generalist Pathway.  Dr Hanson is an instructor with Advanced Paediatric Life Support Australia.  He is a senior lecturer with James Cook University teaching undergraduate Emergency Medicine and postgraduate Public Health.

Concerned at the high rate of injury in the Mackay Region, he developed an interest in injury research, safety promotion, and social network analysis, completing his Doctorate in Public Health at James Cook University in 2007.  He was awarded a university medial for his doctoral dissertation by James Cook University.

Refshauge Lecturer

Professor Karim Khan

Australian Sports Medicine Federation Fellows Sponsored Speaker

Karim Khan, MBBS, PhD, MBA, FACSP is an Australian-trained sports physician and editor of the British Journal of Sports Medicine (@BJSM_BMJ). In prehistoric times, Karim contributed to the paradigm shift that ‘tendinopathies’ are not due to inflammatory cell invasion.

More recently, Karim has been a strong advocate of physical activity for public health. Bone health and falls prevention has been one focus via RCTs in older people with osteoporosis and high risk of falls. He notes Steve Blair’s data that physical activity is the most powerful single health modality. The benefits of 30 minutes of physical activity daily are equivalent to finding a cure for smoking, diabetes and obesity combined (‘smokadiabesity’). Karim practices what he preaches. He is a bike commuter even in Vancouver’s incessant rain and he accumulates 60 minutes of physical activity daily (in bouts of >15 mins – walking is just fine).

He is a founding investigator in the $40 million research enterprise at the University of British Columbia called the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility. As a sports medicine educator, Karim is well known via his contribution to the 118-author textbook — Brukner and somebloke’s Clinical Sports Medicine which is now in its 4th edition with online video Masterclasses (@CSM4ed).

Professor Nanette Mutrie

“It’s hard to persuade some people to walk – or is it?”

Nanette Mutrie, Ph.D., is Professor of Exercise and Sport Psychology at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland. She has researched ways of increasing active living with a particular interest in the mental health benefits. Current funded projects include the Scottish Physical Activity Research Collaboration [SPARColl funded by NHS Scotland; www.sparcoll.org.uk]; the promotion of walking with the use of pedometers for older adults [funded by the Chief Scientist’s Office]; the evaluation of the impact structural changes to the environment on walking and cycling [funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; http://www.iconnect.ac.uk]

Nanette is an Accredited Sport and Exercise Psychologist with the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science (BASES) and is an Honorary Fellow of that organisation. She is also a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society. With her students and colleagues, she has published over 100 peer reviewed articles on exercise behaviour and intervention strategies. Nanette has editorial roles for The Journal of Physical Activity and Health and Mental Health and Physical Activity and has also contributed to policy, for example, ‘let’s make Scotland more active’ and  the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence [NICE] programme on physical activity and the environment [www.nice.org.uk].

Dr Ken Powell

“Stories about physical activity”

Kenneth E. Powell, MD, MPH, is a public health and epidemiologic consultant. He was an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 25 years and with the Georgia Department of Human Resources for 8 years. The relationship between physical activity and health has been an important theme during his career. He initiated the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s epidemiologic work in the area by leading a consolidation of the scientific literature and setting the public health research agenda. He served on the Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the Committee on Physical Activity, Health, Transportation, and Land Use and the Committee on Progress in Preventing Childhood Obesity for the Institute of Medicine; and is a member of the Physical Activity Work Group for the Task Force for the Guide to Community Preventive Services. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, American College of Epidemiology, and American College of Sports Medicine.