Barriers to return to work

Dr. Megan Edgelow is an occupational therapist who works as a clinician, researcher, and educator. She is an Assistant Professor at Queen's University in the Faculty of Health Sciences, where she teaches and supervises students in the Occupational Therapy, Rehabilitation and Health Leadership, and Health Professions Education Programs.

She has two decades of clinical experience in mental health practice and maintains a small private practice in the Kingston, ON region. She also has research expertise with occupational therapy mental health interventions. In her current research, she focuses on return to work for populations with work-related psychological injuries, including first responders and public safety personnel.

Dr. Dwayne Van Eerd is a scientist at the Institute for Work & Health, where he has been a researcher since 1997. He has an MSc and BSc in kinesiology from the University of Waterloo, an MSc in health research methodology from McMaster University, and a PhD in work and health from the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo.

Upon getting his MSc in kinesiology, Van Eerd got his start in occupational health and safety research in a clinical setting, studying musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) of the upper body in musicians, painters, writers and other artists. Now a scientist with the Institute for Work & Health, he focuses primarily on the prevention of work-related injuries, as well as on the implementation of programs and practices to prevent work injury and disability related to physical and mental health.