Scientific Knowledge on Pathways to Work;

the UK Example
The first conference of the Social Council of Sweden;
The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs
Sociala rdet, Socialdepartementet
Time: 10.00 17.00, December 1st 2008
Site: Rosenbad Conference Centre, Drottninggatan 1, Stockholm
Registration: meeting@aexp.se
Registration is binding; the number of
participants is limited; first come, first served.

PROGRAM
09.20
10.00
10.10
10.20
11.00
11.30
12.00
13.00
13.40
14.10
14.40
15.05

16.50 17.00

Registration, coffee/tea
Welcome
Cristina Husmark Pehrsson, Minister of Social Insurance
Introducing the theme and program
Kristina Alexanderson, Professor, Chair of the Social Council of Sweden
Pathways to work; call on scientific approaches
Mansel Aylward, Professor, Director
The sickness certification consultation in general practice; an
intervention study
Debbie Cohen, Occupational health physician & M.D.
Pathways to Work - turning scientific knowledge and theory into
practice
Bob Grove, Professor
Lunch
Working for a healthier tomorrow
Dame Carol Black, Professor, Department of Work and Pension
What helps occupational rehabilitation when the doctor cannot
explain the symptoms?
Peter White, Professor
Vocational Rehabilitation: what works, for whom, and when?
Gordon Waddell, Professor
Coffee/tea break
Panel: How can governmental interventions be designed so that
scientific knowledge can be gained from them? What research is
needed at this stage? What conclusion can be drawn?
Professor Mansel Aylward, Professor Dame Carol Black, MD Debbie Cohen,
Professor Bob Grove, Professor Gordon Waddell, Professor Peter White
Chair: Kristina Alexanderson
Closing remarks
Tres Theorell, Professor

Short bibliographies of the UK researchers

Professor Mansel Aylward CB is Director of the Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research
at Cardiff University. He is also Chair of the Wales Centre for Health, an Assembly Government
Sponsored Body that has a leading role in developing strategies to improve the health of the people
in Wales. From 1996 to 2005 he was Chief Medical Advisor, Medical Director and Chief Scientist
at the UK Department for Work and Pensions, and Chief Medical Adviser and Head of Profession
at the Veterans Agency, Ministry of Defence. He has been engaged in research and policy regarding
worklessness in the last decades.
Professor Dame Carol M. Black is National Director for Health and Work, Chairman of the
Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, Chairman of the Nuffield Trust, and immediate past President
of the Royal College of Physicians. She is a member of many national committees aiming to
improve health and healthcare. She is also a Foreign Affiliate of the Institute of Medicine, USA.
Dr Debbie Cohen MBBS MD DRCOG AFOM MRCGP
Senior Medical Research Fellow at the Unum Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research at
Cardiff University, Wales. She is an occupational health physician who previously worked 15 years
in general practice. Recently she completed her MD thesis in about fitness for work consultation in
General Practice. Teaches behaviour change and managing difficult consultations. She is
specifically interested in how e-learning and blended learning programmes can be used to bring
about practitioner change.
Professor Bob Grove PhD
Bob Grove joined the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health in 2003 to lead the Employment
Programme, which offers independent advice to government, providers and employers on policy
and service development aimed at improving the employment prospects of people with mental
health problems.
Previously he worked in the non-profit sector, developing many different employment schemes
including supported employment agencies, social enterprises, social firms and vocational training.
From 2002-6 he was on secondment to the Department of Health to work on the Pathways to Work
Pilots and for the last 5 years has convened the National Employment & Health Innovations
Network. He has written widely on disability and employment issues.
Professor Gordon Waddell CBE, DSc, MD, FRCS, FFOM, FAADEP, FBCA
Professor Waddell was originally an orthopaedic surgeon with a long-standing clinical and research
interest in back pain and other common health problems. His research has ranged through clinical
assessment, nonorganic signs, clinical psychology, the biopsychosocial model, clinical and
occupational health guidelines, disability evaluation and medicolegal assessment, health and social
policy. He has held honorary professorial appointments in Orthopaedic Surgery in Glasgow
University, Behavioural Medicine in Manchester University, and currently in the Centre for
Psychosocial and Disability Research in Cardiff University. Since 1994, he has been a consultant to
various government departments and research bodies in UK, US, Canada and Sweden.
Professor Peter D White MD FRCP FRCPsych
Professor of Psychological Medicine at Barts and the London School of Medicine. His clinical
work involves general hospital psychiatry at St Bartholomews hospital, London, and he also jointly
leads a specialist service for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME)
(www.bartscfsme.org). He does consultation work for a re-insurance company and the UK
Department for Work and Pensions, particularly advising on mental health and symptom based
diagnoses. His research interests include the nosology, causes and treatments of CFS/ME,
particularly establishing the aetiological role of viral infections, and the efficacy of graded exercise
therapy as a treatment. He is currently the lead co-principal investigator of the PACE trial
(www.pacetrial.org), which is a multi-centre trial that compares four different rehabilitation
approaches for 600 patients with CFS/ME.