Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation Professor receives high honour

John Spence becomes an elected Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Fellow

Nicole Graham - 15 September 2017

Nominated and elected by his peers from across the nation, Professor John Spence receives the prestigious honour of being named a Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) Fellow. Joining other highly ranked Canadian health and biomedical scientists and scholars, Spence will lend his expertise to help meet the CAHS' vision of making informed, actionable solutions that improve the health of Canadians.

Dr. Spence has dedicated his career to promoting healthy active living and reducing risks for chronic disease by examining the factors that influence physical activity (and inactivity) and sedentary behavior. Currently, Spence is evaluating subsidized youth physical activity and wellness programs to gauge whether these programs are working as effectively as originally planned. By providing a critical perspective about these programs, Spence's work will open up conversations that will, hopefully, effectively create positive change.

While many researchers focus on providing evidence to help inform decisions, Spence takes his involvement a step further and uses the evidence he generates to lobby policy makers to influence change that impacts a larger population.

"I'm now at the point in my career where I want to make a positive impact on the whole population, as opposed to a small subset. By effectively influencing policy and practice changes in the areas of physical activity and sedentary behavior in the workplace or schools, for example, the work my colleagues and I do will help more Canadians to live healthy, active lives."

Spence works with a number of arms of government and non-government organizations, and sits on several committees that focus on physical activity and/ or health promotion. Through these roles he has produced reports on physical activity and recreation promotion and healthy weights, and informed physical activity and sedentary guidelines. His advocacy and research expertise have crossed international waters where he is actively involved in similar roles with colleagues in both New Zealand and Korea.

The competitive application and rigorous peer review processes for CAHS Fellows is not lost on Spence, and makes this honour even more meaningful for the professor.

"I'm very flattered that my peers-many of them I haven't met-elected me to this position," says Spence, who, along with his research and advocacy roles, mentors graduate students and successfully holds the position of Vice Dean with the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation. "This recognition validates the work I've done and continue to do, as well as opens up opportunities to further contribute to the evidence-based assessments of critical health challenges affecting Canadians."

Along with participating and contributing to future CAHS initiatives, Spence also looks forward to learning from leading experts in a variety of health-related areas.

"The topics covered at the CAHS annual conference, and the discussions and initiatives these experts are involved with is expansive. Learning from top scientists and scholars in their respective fields is something that really excites me about this role."

Dr. Spence was officially inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in a special ceremony at the CAHS annual conference on Thursday, September 14, 2017.