Dr. Andrea Furlan
PhD, Clinical Epidemiology, University of Toronto
Dr. Andrea Furlan is a scientist at the Institute for Work & Health (IWH). She is also a physician and senior scientist at the KITE Research Institute—the research arm of the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute at University Health Network—and a professor in the Department of Medicine’s Division of Physiatry at the University of Toronto. She is chair of ECHO (Extension for Community Health-care Outcomes) Ontario Chronic Pain and Opioid Stewardship at UHN, and co-chair of ECHO Occupational and Environmental Medicine and ECHO for Return to Work of Public Safety Personnel at IWH.
Furlan completed her residency in physiatry at the University of São Paulo in Brazil. She obtained her PhD in clinical epidemiology from the University of Toronto. Her thesis focused on methods to search and analyze non-randomized studies of interventions for low-back pain. She completed a two-year clinical fellowship in physiatry at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. Furlan received the Pain Excellence Award in 2020 by the Pain Society of Alberta, and she is the recipient of the 2021 Canadian Pain Society’s Excellence in Pain Mentorship Award.
Her main research interests include rehabilitation medicine, chronic pain, low-back pain and neuropathic pain, with a methodological focus on systematic reviews and meta-analyses. She has over 130 publications in peer-reviewed journals, has written seven book chapters and has been an invited speaker at many local, national and international conferences, and is frequently sought by the media for interviews. During the Covid-19 pandemic she started a Youtube channel to share her knowledge about chronic pain worldwide that has reached more than 620,000 subscribers.
![Photo of Andrea Furlan](/sites/iwh/files/styles/portrait_hidpi/public/iwh/images/people/furlan_andrea_2022.jpg?h=9155003f&itok=yKRoZclm)
"I spend about 80 per cent of my time as a researcher and 20 per cent as a clinician. The clinical work maintains the relevance of what I do, as well as credibility among my medical peers.” – Dr. Andrea Furlan
Projects
- Understanding the use and impact of early opioid prescriptions for work-related low-back pain. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research, WorkSafeBC. Completed.
- Effectiveness of interventions to address depression in the workplace: a systematic review. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Completed. (PI on the project)
Publications
- Furlan AD, Severin C, Harbin S, Irvin E, Carnide N, Nowrouzi-Kia B, Macdonald S, Thompson A, Liao Q, Smith PM, Adisesh A. ECHO OEM virtual community of learning for primary care. Occupational Medicine. 2024 epub ahead of print. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqae067 .
- Carnide N, Chrystoja BR, Lee H, Furlan AD, Smith PM. Cannabis use motives and associations with personal and work characteristics among Canadian workers: a cross-sectional study. Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology. 2024;19(1):25. doi:10.1186/s12995-024-00424-7.
- Carlin L, Zhao QJ, Bhatia D, Taenzer P, Flannery J, Furlan AD. "Keep trying": a qualitative investigation into what patients with chronic pain gain from Project ECHO. SAGE Open Medicine. 2024;12:20503121241254941. doi:10.1177/20503121241254941.
- DeSouza A, Wang D, Wong JJ, Furlan AD, Hogg-Johnson S, Macedo L. Prevalence of unmet rehabilitation needs among Canadians living with long-term conditions or disabilities during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 2024;105(2):268-279. doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2023.07.010.
- Correia I, Meziat-Filho N, Furlan AD, Saragiotto B, Reis FJJ. Are we missing the opioid consumption in low- and middle-income countries?. Scandinavian Journal of Pain. 2024;24(1):. doi:10.1515/sjpain-2023-0086.
Speaker Series presentations
- New World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on rehabilitation in health systems. IWH Speaker Series. April 18, 2017.
- Systematic review on depression in the workplace. IWH Speaker Series. March 1, 2011.
Interviews and articles
- Epidemic of untreatable back an neck pain costs billions, study finds. The Guardian: Guardian News and Media (London). February 10, 2017. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/10/epidemic-of-untreatable-back-and-neck-pain-costs-billions-study-finds?CMP=twt_gu
- Should you try massage for back pain?. Consumer Reports: Consumer Reports (Yonkers, NY). July 21, 2016. Available from: http://www.consumerreports.org/health/should-you-try-massage-for-back-pain/
- Building an understanding of back pain, a common but poorly understood condition. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 74, Fall 2013.
- IWH research now has two new “applications”. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 73, Summer 2013.
- Fast but finite: Complementary and alternative therapies. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 67, Winter 2012.