RHP&EO is the electronic journal of the International
Union for Health Promotion and Education
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From Academic Bureaucrat to Bureaucratic Academic and Beyond: My Favorite Resourcesby Irving Rootman, University of Toronto Rootman I. From Academic Bureaucrat to Bureaucratic Academic and Beyond: My Favorite Resources. Reviews of Health Promotion and Education Online, 2001. URL: reviews/2001/7/index.htm. I have had roughly two phases in my health promotion career so far. The first can be characterized as being an academic bureaucrat and the second as a bureaucratic academic, in the best senses of both words. The Academic Bureaucrat PhaseI began my career as an academic bureaucrat in 1973 when I was hired by Ron Draper who at that time was the Director-General of the Non-Medical Use of Drugs Directorate of the Federal Department of Health and Welfare in Canada. Although neither of us knew it at the time, Ron was to become one of my most important resources in health promotion as we were destined to work together in helping to develop the field in Canada until his untimely death in 1998. I learned many things from Ron that helped me to steer a clear path and to make a contribution to the field. One of them was the importance of logical thinking and analysis as he was a master at analyzing the essence of a situation and reaching a sound and practical solution based on that analysis. At the same time, he taught me how critical it was to keep the people you are trying to help in mind in health promotion. Although he seldom used the term "empowerment", he was a fan of the idea and exemplified it in his own example of overcoming severe handicaps through personal will-power and through taking control. Another valuable skill that I learned from Ron was how to listen. I marveled at the way in which he was able to follow a complex discussion in a meeting and summarize it in a cogent and clear manner at the end so that it was possible to move forward. Thus, for these reasons, and many others, Ron Draper was not only a resource to me but a hero who I still think of often. Fortunately, throughout my academic bureaucrat phase, I had the privilege of working with many other people who were resources to me in my health promotion career. They included Harold Colburn, Andres Petrasovits, Lavada Pinder, Barbara Naegele, Mike Nelson, Tom Stevens, Reg Warren and Rick Wilson and many others. These people each made their own unique contribution, but in general taught me the value of careful planning, or paying attention to the details. However, I also had the advantage of being exposed to a number of written resources that helped me, and continue to do so. The first, was a New Perspective on the Health of Canadians which was released almost on the day when I joined the Non-Medical Use of Drugs Directorate. At the time, I did not appreciate the significance of this document, but it became clear five years later when the Health Promotion Directorate was created out of the Non-Medical Drugs Directorate that it was a key factor in the establishment of the field of health promotion in Canada, and perhaps internationally. Not only did it give impetus to the field by identifying health promotion as one of five strategies for improving the health of Canadians, but it made a major conceptual contribution by putting forward the idea of the Health Field Concept which made the point that health care organization, was only one of four major determinants of health in the population (the others being lifestyle, environment and human biology). Over the years, I have found that this elegant conceptualization has helped me keep my thinking clear regarding the determinants of health and I have continued to use it in my work, at one point, as the basis for a paper with John Raeburn putting forward an expanded Health Field Concept which among other things, integrated that concept with concepts in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion which is also one of my five favorite resources partly because of its timelessness. However, another document which I came across during my academic bureaucrat phase which perhaps does not get the credit that it deserves in the field, but which I like as much, if not more than the Ottawa Charter, is a small document produced by a Working Group established by the European Office of W.H.O. called A discussion document on the concept and principles of health promotion. As an academic bureaucrat, I liked this document a lot not only because it was short, but because it contained a clear and cogent listing and explanation of key principles of health promotion, which stand today and which provide a useful means of introducing the field to newcomers whether they are students or practitioners. There are many other resources that I came across when I was an academic bureaucrat, but these three have had the most enduring value to me during my subsequent career as a bureaucratic academic. The Bureaucratic Academic PhaseThis phase of my career began in 1990 when I became the first Director of the Centre for Health Promotion at the University of Toronto. Once more, I found myself drawing on many people as resources, some of them ones that I mentioned already, but others who I got to know as a result of my involvement in an academic setting. For example, I became more reliant on academic colleagues such as John Hastings, Mary Jane Ashley, Harvey Skinner, Merrijoy Kellner, Rhonda Love, Ann Pederson, Dennis Raphael, Suzanne Jackson, Blake Poland, Michael Goodstadt, Victor Marshall, Ron Labonte, Michel ONeill, Joan Feather, John Raeburn, Larry Green, Jim Frankish, Maurice Mittelmark, Don Nutbeam,Cordia Chu and many others. I also strengthened my relationships with many wonderful practitioners and policymakers who became resources to me. These included Maria Herrera, Fran Perkins, Alison Stirling, Francine DeRoche, Peggy Schultz, Colleen Stanton, Barbara Kahan, David Korn, John Garcia, Peter Coleridge, Russ Kisby, Ruth Grier, Erio Ziglio, Des OByrne, Maria Teresa Cequiera, Marie-Claude Lamarre, Anne Bunde-Birouste and so many others. My life has truly been enriched by the generosity and examples of the people that I have mentioned as well as many others. It would be hard to single one who has been most important , although Ilona Kickbusch is certainly a strong contender because of her amazing ability to integrate policy concerns with academic rigour and her political astuteness. Once again, the others made their unique contributions, but in general my academic colleagues taught me the importance of theory and methodology and my practitioner and policymaker colleagues the importance of being grounded in the real world. With regard to other kinds of resources that I have found helpful, once again, the list is long, but two, one written and one electronic, stand out. The written resource is the publication produced by the International Union for Health Promotion and Education entitled The Evidence of Health Promotion Effectiveness. The reason that I like this resource so much is that not only does it summarize evidence on the effectiveness of health promotion in an convincing manner, but it identifies a process for doing so that could be replicated in other parts of the world. Indeed, it is hoped that this will happen. Thus, this volume has the potential for becoming a major influence on the development of the field as a model for evidence-based health promotion. Finally, the electronic resource that I most appreciate is Click4HP, an electronic list serve established and maintained by the Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse. This list serve has become an incredible resource not only to me, but to hundreds of others around the world interested in health promotion. It is timely, pertinent, provocative and practical. Truly a model resource for the 21st Century. The Next PhaseAs I write this, I am in the midst of a one-year Administrative Leave which I am happily spending at the Institute of Health Promotion Research at the University of British Columbia in beautiful Vancouver. It is an opportunity to think about what I want to do when I grow up?. That is, is there something beyond being a bureaucratic academic? I havent reached any firm conclusions yet, but seem to be leaning toward becoming a non-bureaucratic academic, although the events of September 11 make me wonder whether this is what I want to do with the rest of my life. In any case, I am certain that I have a terminal case of health promotionitis caused by the people and non-people resources that I have had the incredible good fortune of encountering during the last quarter century. My hope is that you have the same good fortune in your life. References
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