Deborah Kopansky-Giles
Dr. Deborah Kopansky-Giles, BPHE, DC, FCCS, FICC, MSc, is a chiropractor/clinician-scientist on staff in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, St. Michael’s Hospital, an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto and a Professor at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, Department of Research. Dr. Kopansky-Giles oversees the chiropractic program at St. Michael’s Hospital (Unity Health Toronto) and is actively engaged in collaborative, primary care health service delivery research with a focused area related to integrative models of health care, competency-based education, and interprofessional education of health professional trainees. Deborah has been involved in World Spine Care (WSC) since its inception in 2009 and sits on the Research Committee as well as the Scientific Secretariat of the Global Spine Care Initiative, a WSC project.
Dr. Kopansky-Giles represents the chiropractic profession on the Global Alliance for Musculoskeletal Health (of the Bone and Joint Decade) International Coordinating Council, co-Chairs the GMUSC Education Task Force and is a member of Bone and Joint Canada Steering Committee. Deborah is a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Care (at the University of Toronto (U of T)) and sits on the WHO Health Workforce Education Hub. She was recently appointed to the Ontario Chiropractic Association Evidence-based Framework Advisory Council and over the past decade has sat on several expert working groups for the Ontario Government (Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC) and Ministry of Finance), (Expert Working Group on Quality Standards for Low Back pain, Neck and Low Back Pain Quality Based Pathway Expert Working Group, the provincial government strategy group for LBP, Accident Benefits Advisory Committee, Rehabilitation Council). Deborah co-Chaired the Collaborator Role Working Group for the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the IPC Competency Working Group at the Hospital. She is the lead for the Health Professional Educator program in the family medicine program at U of T and represents the university on the national Health Professional Educators Group (College of Family Physicians of Canada).
On behalf of the World Federation of Chiropractic, Deborah has been actively working with the WHO over the past several years including past membership on the WHO Disability and Rehabilitation Expert Advisory Committee. She is currently actively engaged with the WHO in the Integrated, People-Centred Care Health Services, Global Health Workforce, and the Ageing and Life Course programs, bringing the lens of musculoskeletal health and functional ability to these WHO programs. Deborah has received numerous research grants and awards, has published several papers and presents nationally and internationally.
Research Interests
• Primary health care delivery models (integrated health care models)
• New models of health professional education/training (interprofessional education)
• Health professional competencies for collaborative practice and musculoskeletal disorder management
• Patient reported outcomes research
