Dr. Jim Frankish is Senior Scholar of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. His recent work includes studies work on measuring community capacity and healthy communities, and development of criteria for health promotion in primary care. His current projects are social-science grants on poverty and nutrition, literacy and health, and the causes/solutions to homelessness. He also has five health grants on health promotion in primary care, the BC Homelessness & Health Research Network, community partnership research, measurement of health literacy, and health literacy in schools. He is the past Chair of the UBC Behavioural Research Ethics Board and has 16 current graduate students and post-docs. He teaches an innovative, undergraduate course on the meaning, measurement and determinants of health, is designing a 'Health 101' course for Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and is the principal investigator on a 6-year, CIHR/MSFHR research-training program focussed on community health promotion.

Irving Rootman is an Adjunct Professor in Education and Human and Social Development as well as Chair of the Health and Learning Knowledge Centre at the University of Victoria and co-chair of the CPHA Expert Panel on Health Literacy. Most recently (1992-1997), he was a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Distinguished Scholar and Professor in the Faculty of Human and Social Development at the University of Victoria. From 1990-2001, he was the first Director of the Centre for Health Promotion at the University of Toronto. From 1973-1990, he was a researcher, research manager and program manager for Health and Welfare Canada. He has been a Technical Advisor, Consultant and Senior Scientist for the World Health Organization and a former member of the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Advisory Board and the Health Literacy Committee of the U.S. Institute of Medicine and of the Canadian Minister of Health’s Science Advisory Board as well as the Board of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education. He has published widely in health promotion and co-authored and edited several books in health promotion He is a recipient of R.F. Defries Award, the highest award of the Canadian Public Health Association. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from Yale University in 1970. His areas of expertise are: literacy and health; health promotion; school health; evaluation; and participatory research.

Dr. Annalee Yassi, MD, MSc, FRCPC, is a Professor in the departments of Healthcare and Epidemiology and the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Dr. Yassi is also a Canada Research Chair in Transdisciplinary and Global Health Promotion at UBC.She has over 25 years of experience in occupational medicine, including 20 in the healthcare sector itself.

Catherine Kidd is Regional Director, Worksafe & Wellness for Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH).  VCH programs extend to community, facility and acute care areas of practice and service delivery.  For the past 3 years, Catherine and her team have lead a Board driven strategic initiative for VCH called Safe and Healthy Workplace.    This evidence-based initiative is focused on safety and wellness for employees and the workplace with an emphasis on retention of staff and reduction of absence due to illness and injury.  There are numerous research initiatives underway to evaluate and further develop this initiative.  In her extensive career in health care, Catherine has had experience in direct care, education, senior management and research.  As an RN, Catherine has always focused on health promotion and prevention.  In her current role, she is pleased to work towards employee and workplace health promotion as a strategy to achieve quality care and service for the population served by VCH.  Catherine received her Bachelors in Nursing and her Masters in Nursing from the University of Manitoba.

Allan Best is Senior Scientist in the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation, and Director of the Community Partnerships for Health Research program in the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. Dr. Best earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Waterloo, in 1973. In addition to his Senior Scientist position, he is Clinical Professor in the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology at the University of British Columbia, and Associate in the Centre for Health Promotion Research. He is also Consulting Professor of Health Studies at the University of Waterloo, and a member of the Professional Staff, BC Cancer Agency. Allan's academic, research and corporate consulting activities have earned him a reputation as a world leader in health promotion and organizational health. He served as the founding Chair of the Department of Health Studies at the University of Waterloo, the world's first interdisciplinary department inte­grating the biological and behavioural sciences to study health promotion. He has been elected Fellow for outstanding research contribution by the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, Canadian Psychological Association, Society of Behavioral Medicine, American Psychological Association, and American Academy for Health Behavior. Allan was awarded the 1996 O. Harold Warwick prize by the National Cancer Institute of Canada for outstanding contributions to cancer control, following his term as an inaugural member of the National Cancer Institute of Canada's Advisory Committee on Cancer Control, 1988-1994. He currently serves as Past President of the Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research.

Dr. Masuda is trained as a health geographer and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow with the PCHR program as well as with the Health Care, Technology and Place Strategic Training Initiative at the University of Toronto. Dr. Masuda’s research interests are in the geography of environmental risk, community based health promotion, critical social theory, and environmental justice/equity research and knowledge translation. His research program includes case study research on industrial land use policy decision making (Edmonton, Hamilton), systematic review of Canadian environmental equity research, pilot testing of environmental health promotion interventions for youth with high risk allergies and asthma (BC, Alberta, New Brunswick), and health promotion and chronic disease policy and knowledge translation. Most recently, Dr. Masuda has led in the development of an emergent Canadian Network on Environment, Health, and Social Equity, which includes over 50 representatives from academic, non-profit, government, and community sectors. His past and present research has been funded by SSHRC, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, CIHR, and McMaster University.