Generation Rx: About Our Upcoming Town Hall and Panelists

Meet our panel of experts: 

Christine Bois is the Manager of the OpiATE project with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.  She holds a M.A.Science in Psychopharmacology.  Her experience includes working in both addictions and mental health programs in treatment, research and education.  The OpiATE project, funded by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, raises awareness about the stigma and difficulties faced by those who need access to treatment, and provides training and information to families and professionals to reduce inappropriate use of opioids in Ontario.

Previously, Bois was the Manager of the Concurrent Disorders Knowledge Exchange Priority Area with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.  She has experience as a consultant in the areas of health promotion, system planning and treatment development. Other areas of work included substance use and older adults, and alcohol and violence. She has provided consultation and presentations to many groups across the province and Canada.

Dr. Andrea Furlan is a chronic pain physician and scientist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She completed her residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation (physiatry) at the University of São Paulo in Brazil and obtained her PhD in clinical epidemiology from the University of Toronto. Her main research interests include chronic pain, low-back pain and neuropathic pain.

Dr. Furlan was the leader of the research team that developed the Canadian Guideline for Safe and Effective Use of Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain, released in May 2010. She is now involved with the National Faculty, a group of 35 individuals across Canada, implementing and evaluating the impact of the guideline.  She also has over 40 publications in peer-reviewed journals, has written two book chapters and has been an invited speaker at many local, national and international conferences.

Shawn White earned his BA in Sociology from the University of Western Ontario. He joined the Cornwall Community Police Service in 1985 as Uniform Patrol Officer and five years later, became a Detective in the Major Crime Unit. Since then, he was promoted to Sergeant, Patrol Sergeant and then Detective Sergeant. In 2008, he was promoted to rank of Detective Staff Sergeant, where he continues to serve as the Officer in Charge of the Criminal Investigation Branch.

Late in 2008, White began to notice a problem with OxyContin in Cornwall. Police were seizing an increasing number of prescription opiates.  There were also a few opioid-related overdose deaths.  White wrote a report on the problem, and this resulted in the formation of the OxyContin Task Force. Under the direction of the Medical Officer of Health for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, this group includes representatives from Cornwall's health care, addictions, school boards and first nations communities.

In July 2011, Detective Staff Sergeant White testified at the Coroner's Inquest in Brockville, into the deaths of Donna Bertrand and Dustin King, who died as result of using OxyContin in combination with other drugs.  He has served on the Board of Directors for Addiction Services of Eastern Ontario for three years, and currently is the Vice Chair.  He also lectures to various community groups and teaches criminal and civil law at the Cornwall campus of St. Lawrence College.