Dr. Michael Williams-Bell is a Professor at Durham College in the Fitness and Health Promotion program and an Adjunct Professor at Ontario Tech University in the Faculty of Health Sciences. He completed his PhD in Applied Bioscience at Ontario Tech University examining the effects of heat stress on cognitive function in firefighters. He holds certifications as a Registered Kinesiologist and Clinical Exercise Physiologist/High Performance Specialist (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology). He has conducted research with the fire service since 2005 in order to improve our understanding of the physical demands of the job and how the body responds to environmental stressors. Dr. Williams-Bell’s research has been published in research journals and presented at provincial, national, and international conferences.
Mr. Mark Fitzgerald is the Director of Sport Performance with the Okanagan Hockey Group and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Previously, he was the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach with the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL), the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League (AHL), and the Assistant Strength Coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL. Mark’s extensive experience with professional athletes provides a solid foundation to implement occupationally-specific training programs to optimize the health and performance of firefighters to ensure they can perform their duties during each shift. His philosophy is to consider firefighters as “occupational athletes” and incorporate similar training paradigms to occupational health and wellness to monitor workload, fatigue, and training status.
Mr. Shawn Gilmer is an expert in the scientific study of human movement. As a Registered Kinesiologist and Certified Personal Trainer through the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology (CSEP-CPT), he has gained 15 years of experience in the field of fitness and health promotion. Shawn has extensive experience with occupational fitness testing, specifically in the field of firefighting. He has also worked with various clientele, including athletes, elderly populations, those in rehabilitation, Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel, paramedics, pre-fire students, volunteer and career firefighters.
