Dr. Julia Alleyne is a Family Physician practicing Sport and Exercise Medicine at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. In addition, she trained as a physiotherapist and maintained an active license for 30 years. She is appointed at the University of Toronto, Department of Family and Community Medicine as an associate clinical professor.

 

In 2009, she completed her Masters with a focus in Health Professions Education. Since that time, she has been active as an educational curriculum consultant including the clinical lead for Ontario’s Low Back Pain Strategy and program designer for the MSK Initiative in British Columbia. Dr. Alleyne is very involved in education at the University of Toronto as Chair of the Sport and Exercise Fellowship program since 2004 and course director of the award-wining five weekend MSK Certificate Program for Family Physicians.

 

She is the current Chair of the Education Commission for the International Sport Medicine Federation and the past President of the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine (2003). She was honoured by the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport and Physical Activity as a recipient of the 2003 Most Influential Women in Sport and Physical Activity Award. In 2013, she was appointed as the first Family Physician to be chair of Bone and Joint Canada.

Dr. Ted Findlay is a private practice family physician and a MSK consultant at both the Chronic Pain Centre in Calgary and for the Chronic Pain Service at the Foothills Primary Care Network. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Calgary and is the Co-Chair for the Guideline Development Group for the TOP Guidelines for the Primary Care Management of Low Back Pain, published by the Alberta Medical Association and Institute for Health Economics.

Dr. Hamilton Hall is a Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto and is on the orthopaedic staff at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

 

In 1974 Dr. Hall founded the Canadian Back Institute (CBI Health Group), now the largest rehabilitation company in Canada. Dr. Hall continues to serve as its Medical Director.

 

He is co-founder of the Canadian Spine Society and is presently the Society’s Executive Director.

 

Dr. Hamilton Hall is a member of the North American Spine Society, the Canadian Orthopaedic Association and the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine. He has served on the editorial boards of Spine, The Spine Journal and The BackLetter.

 

Dr. Hall is a significant contributor to the Saskatchewan and Ontario government initiatives educating primary care providers in the management of mechanical low back pain.

 

In addition to over 100 published articles and book chapters and 1000 invited presentations, Dr. Hamilton Hall is the author of the best-selling Back Doctor series, most recently A Consultation with the Back Doctor.

Audrey Long PT, BSc PT, Dip MDT is a Physical Therapist with a special interest in spinal disorders and was recently certified as a specialist in MSK by the Canadian Physiotherapy Association. In addition to her clinical work in a private practice in Calgary, she regularly teaches continuing education courses to PTs across Canada. Her research includes four papers published on prognosis and treatment of the lumbar spine utilizing the centralization phenomenon and directional preference.