Franklin Marshall Matthews White (born 1946) is a Canadian public health scientist focused on capacity building for international and global education, research and development. He advocates:"Public health...must not be left to the international community to define; it is...the responsibility of the countries themselves to define their priorities. The global agenda should be viewed as complementary at best."John TJ, White F. Public Health in South Asia. Chapter 10 in: Beaglehole R (ed) Global Public Health: a new era. Oxford University Press. 2003. "Health is mostly made in homes, communities and workplaces and only a minority of ill health can be repaired in clinics and hospitals."White F, Nanan D. Community Health Case Studies selected from Developing and Developed Countries – common principles for moving from evidence to action. Arch Med Sci 2008; 4,4:358–63. "Nations (must) assess their public health human resource needs and develop their ability to deliver this capacity, and not depend on other countries to supply it."White F. The imperative of public health education: a global perspective. Med Princ Pract 2013;22:515-529 "Public health and primary health care are the cornerstones of sustainable health systems, and this should be reflected in the health policies and professional education systems of all nations."White F. Primary health care and public health: foundations of universal health systems. Medical Principles and Practice. 2015;24,2:103-116. doi: 10.1159/000370197
Early life Born in Perth, Western Australia (1946), his family lived in Kuala Lumpur (1946–50) during the Malayan emergency, engaged in post-war reconstruction; his father Frank T. M. White, was then appointed founding professor of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, University of Queensland.Notes from University of Queensland Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering. Professor FTM White, in: Personnel of the Department. Part 1. Page 2. Queensland Government Mining Journal, September, 1958. Visiting field sites and taking seasonal employment in the industry, he came to appreciate that how people live and work impacts their health. While in secondary school, he qualified as a Petty Officer, Australian Navy Cadets, was prominent in track and field, and qualified (1963) as a junior rugby referee;Reflections 1912-2012. Eagles' Wings - journal of the Anglican Church Grammar School. December 2012. as a Queensland junior champion (1964), he represented the state in the 1965 Australian Athletics Championships. A Babayaga Trio member, he participated in Australian folk music.
Education His primary education was at Ironside State School and Brisbane Boys College; his secondary education was at the Anglican Church Grammar School.Mason, James (2011). Churchie: The Centenary Register. Brisbane, Australia: The Anglican Church Grammar School. Following scholarship-assisted studies at University of Queensland, he obtained MD, CM degrees from McGill University in 1969. During an internship at Royal Jubilee Hospital, he engaged in educational research with L'Université de Sherbrooke.Massey D, Fournier-Massey G. Students as programmers. Br J Med Educ 1971,71,5:289-91 In 1970-71, he joined the Ministry of Health (British Columbia) as a trainee, then enrolled with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine under the tutelage of social epidemiologist Jerry Morris, gaining an MSc in 1973.Rodney N. Global Public Health Expert: Dr Franklin White. London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Alumni blog. January 26, 2017. http://blogs.lshtm.ac.uk/alumni/2017/01/26/global-public-health-expert-dr-franklin-white/ Accessed Jan 30, 2017. During these studies he was recruited and seconded by McGill to the Medical Research Council's Pneumoconiosis Research Unit, Cardiff University School of Medicine, in contact with Archie Cochrane, pioneer of evidence-based medicine. He earned specialty recognition in Canada (FRCPC 1982) and in the United Kingdom (FFPH 2003, by distinction).
Career
Public health surveillance and investigation
Appointed to McGill's department of epidemiology and health in 1972, he focused on occupational and environmental health,White FMM, Swift J, Becklake MR, Rheumatic complaints and pulmonary response to chrysotile dust in the mines and mills of Quebec. Can Med Assoc J 1974, 111: 533 5.Archer DP, Gurekas VL, White FMM, Urinary fluoride excretion in school children exposed to fluoride air pollution: A Pilot Study. Can J Public Health 1975, 66: 407 10. and worked part-time in the Royal Victoria Hospital community clinic. In 1974, he joined Health Canada as chief, communicable disease epidemiology, and in 1975 initiated Canada Diseases Weekly Report, the nation's first data-supported surveillance report, and launched its Field Epidemiology Program.White FMM, A Perspective on the control of communicable diseases in Canada, Editorial. Can J Public Health 1976, 67: 449-53.White ME, McDonnell SM, Werker DH, Cardenas VM, Thacker SB. Partnership in International Applied Epidemiology Training and Service. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2001, 154, 11: 993-99 As director, communicable disease control and epidemiology for Alberta (1977–80), and then director of epidemiology for British Columbia (1980–82), he developed surveillance and investigation capacity. He published several novel investigations: Legionnaires' disease,White F. Legionnaires disease in Canada 1974. Can Med Assoc J 1978, 119: 563. shigellosis on a work train in Labrador,White FMM, Pedersen BAT, Epidemic shigellosis on a work train in Labrador. Can Med Assoc J 1976, 115: 647 9. gastrointestinal infection related to pooled expressed breast milk,Stiver HG, Albritton WL, Clark J, Friesen P, White F. Nosocomial colonization and infection due to E Coli 0125:K70 (B15) linked to expressed breast milk. Can J Public Health 1977;68:479-82. poliomyelitis in an unvaccinated religious community,White FMM, Constance P, Lacey B. An outbreak of poliovirus infections, Alberta 1978. Can J Public Health 1981, 72: 239 44. and brucellosis in a slaughterhouse;Alleyne BC, Orford RR, Lacey BA, White FMM, Rate of slaughter may increase risk of human brucellosis in a meat packing plant. J Occ Med 1986, 28: 445 50. he also published on imported diseases,White FMM, Imported Diseases: An Assessment of Trends. Can Med Assoc J 1977, 117: 241 5. health systems and immunization policy.White FMM, Mathias RG, Immunization program planning in Canada. Can J Public Health 1982 73: 167 71.White FMM, Policy for measles elimination in Canada and program implications. Rev Inf Dis 1983, 5: 577 82. He served on the National Advisory Committee on Epidemiology (1977–82), and the National Immunization Policy Committee (1978–81). He was co-chair (hygiene), Medical Committee, Commonwealth Games, Edmonton 1977-78.
Academic and professional leadership in Canada
At age 36, he was appointed "Ezra Butler Eddy" Professor and Head, Community Health and Epidemiology at Dalhousie University (1982–89), and was an elected member of Senate for the same period. Cross-appointed to the Institute of Resource and Environmental Studies, he investigated human exposures to chemicals and pesticides.White FMM, Cohen F, Sherman G, McCurdy R, Chemicals, Birth Defects and Stillbirths in New Brunswick: Associations with Agricultural Activity. Can Med Assoc J 1988, 138: 117-24.Cohen FG, White FMM, McCurdy R, Cote RP, Who Should Know? The Question of Access to Pesticide Registration Data in Canada. Can Med Assoc J. 1987; 136: 329-32.White F. Health Risk Assessment of Pesticides: Development of Epidemiological Approaches. pp 17-25 In: Forget G, Goodman T, de Villiers A (eds). Impact of Pesticide Use on Health in Developing Countries. IDRC, Ottawa, 1993. . Using Canada Fitness Survey data,White FMM, The Canada Fitness Survey: Implications for health research and public health practice. Can J Pub Health 1983, 74: 91 5. he focused on obesity measurement and prevalence,White FMM, Pereira LH, Obesity: epidemiology and the problem of measurement. Can J Surgery 1984 27: 120 3.White F, Pereira L, In Search of the Ideal Body Weight. Annals RCPSC 1987, 20, 2: 129 32.Pereira L, White F, Prevalence and Health Consequences of Obesity. National Institute of Nutrition. Rapport 1987 2: 6 7. and was first to reveal an independent association of waist:hip ratio (abdominal obesity) with hypertension in males.White FMM, Pereira LH, Garner JB, The associations of body mass index and waist-hip ratio with hypertension. Can Med Assoc J. 1986; 135: 313-19, A field investigation revealed the world's most northerly occurrence of endemic ascariasis.Embil J, Pereira L, White FMM, Garner J, Manuel F, Prevalence of ascaris lumbricoides in a small Nova Scotia community. Am J Trop Med Hyg 1984, 33: 595 8. Using records linkage, he investigated cancer incidence and mortality in indoor workers;White F, Dingle J, Heyge E, Cancer Incidence and Mortality among Office Workers. Can J Public Health 1988, 79: 31-6. similar innovative methods were applied to an inter-provincial study of heart disease.Nova Scotia-Saskatchewan Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology Group, Estimation of the Incidence of Acute Myocardial Infarction Using Record Linkage. Can J Pub Health.1989;80:412-7.
He served on Health Canada's Epidemiology Science Panel (1983–84), Task Force on Obesity (1983–86), and Advisory Committee on Weight Standards (1985–87), and chaired the Review Panel, National Cancer Incidence Reporting System. In 1986, he was appointed Chief Examiner in Community Medicine, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (3-year term). In 1988, he became a founding member, Board of Trustees, Environmental Health Foundation of Canada, serving until 1994.
Elected President of the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) 1986–88, he advocated an international role for the association.White F, The Canadian Public Health Association and International Health: A Perspective. Can J Public Health 1988,79:82-5.Sustainability and Equity: Primary Health Care in Developing Countries, Position Paper sponsored by a CPHA Task Force (F.White, member), CPHA Health Digest 1990, 14: 2-5 In November 1986, CPHA hosted the First International Conference on Health Promotion, which produced the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. Also in 1986, CPHA launched the federally-funded Canadian International Immunization Initiative, in support of Commonwealth and Francophonie Countries. He served on the board of the Canadian Society for International Health (1992–96).
Capacity building - international and global