Settings for Health Promotion: Linking Theory and Practice

Dr Blake Poland is a professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, current co-Director of the Environmental Health Justice in the City Research Network (www.EHJiC.ca) and former Director of the Collaborative Program in Community Development (2007-2008) and MHSc Program in Health Promotion (1999-2007). Trained in social/health geography (PhD McMaster 1994), Blake’s research has focussed on the settings approach to health promotion (see Settings for Health Promotion, Sage, 2000), the health of marginalized groups, the sociology of tobacco control, and community development as an arena of practice for health professionals (see www.hospitalcommunitycollaboration.ca). More recently his attention has turned to environmental health promotion and building community resilience for the transition to a post-carbon society, including work in the global Transition Town movement (see www.TransitionOakville.ca). Blake also teaches introductory qualitative health research methods (see ‘Teaching’, below). His research is inspired by the work of Paulo Freire, Pierre Bourdieu, complexity theory, arts-enabled and community-based participatory approaches. He has led or worked on projects employing visual methods (photovoice), participatory research, research-based theatre, interactive multimedia installations.

Lawrence Green is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California at San Francisco. A former Director of the federal Office of Health Promotion under the Carter Administration, Vice President of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and Director of the Office of Science and Extramural Research for CDC, Dr. Green has published broadly on program planning, evidence and evaluation issues, public health, and policy. His awards include the highest distinctions of the American Public Health Association, the American Academy of Health Behavior, the Society for Public Health Education, and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Dr. Green holds an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Waterloo and is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine.