Kari-Pekka Martimo on work disability prevention

20th of March 2017

Kari-Pekka Martimo: "More and more attention has been paid to work disability and its consequences to individuals, workplaces and societies."

Course leader presentation: Kari-Pekka Martimo

Work Disability Prevention (Year 2), 12th – 16th of June 2017, Uppsala, Sweden

1. What is your background? A short presentation of yourself.

After I finished my medical studies I have specialized in occupational health services and in occupational medicine. I consider myself as a bridge builder between academic and practical work. This comes from the fact that most of my professional life I have worked as occupational physician or in a position where I have developed services related to work disability prevention. At the same time I have been involved in research at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, mainly on musculoskeletal disorders and work disability. Presently I work at the mutual pension insurance company Elo, where I help companies to prevent work disability, and assess the eligibility of applicants to disability benefits.

2. Why do you think that work disability prevention is an important and current issue to discuss in 2017?

More and more attention has been paid to work disability and its consequences to individuals, workplaces and societies. With accumulating evidence, on the other hand, we have been convinced about the benefits of good work to us, including employees with disabilities. Also the new evidence has shown how to reduce work disability. However, the solutions are not simple, and, therefore, a multidisciplinary approach is a prerequisite.

3. Your greetings to the participants of the course.

I welcome most warmly all those participants, whom we already met in Helsinki last year. In addition, in Uppsala, I hope to meet many new faces with fresh ideas about this interesting topic. Every WDP course is an independent entity with its specific aims, but it would be advisable to go through the online course based on the previous course. This makes it even easier to get started when we meet in June.

More information: Course web page
Registration: Course registration
Last registration date: 16th of April 2017