Blake Poland
Dr Blake Poland is a researcher, writer,
activist and internationally recognized expert in health promotion and community
health development. He is a graduate of McMaster University. Blake held the
position of Research Scientist with the Addiction Research Foundation prior to
becoming a professor the Department of Public Health Sciences (Faculty of
Medicine) at the University of Toronto, where he is currently the Director of
the MHSc Program in Health Promotion. Dr Poland is Lead Editor of Settings for Health Promotion: Linking
Theory and Practice (Sage Publications, 2000), a book that is used around the world as
one of the key authoritative texts on the settings (healthy places) approach in
health promotion, as promoted by the World Health
Organization.
Blake has brought together scientists from different disciplines, health and social service professionals, artists, and community members from all walks of life from activists to business people to the homeless to work on pressing social and health issues such as community health development, hospital-community collaboration, environmental health promotion, the health of marginalized groups, homeless youth, charitable food programs, and public health practice. He has also conducted scientific reviews for 12 national and provincial research funding agencies.
In addition to principal or co-investigator roles in 33 research studies, Blake is the author of 42 papers in scholarly journals, 16 book chapters, and over two dozen other publications and reports. He is regularly asked to give keynote speeches around the world, and has given nearly 150 research presentations at scholarly conferences and community symposia/workshops. He is also the recipient of an Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Graduate Department of Community Health, University of Toronto (2001).
A long-time Oakville resident, Blake has been active in local initiatives to promote human and ecosystem health, community development, and hospital-community collaboration in Oakville, Toronto, and Brazil.
