Beginnings: The Occupational Health Program at the University of Alberta, 1984-1999

The Occupational Health Program (OHP) at the University of Alberta played an important and pioneering role in the specialty of occupational medicine in Canada between 1984 and 1999. Its history illustrates the opportunities and obstacles in one of the smallest and most unusual medical specialties in Canada. After an auspicious beginning in 1984, with support from industry, labour, government, and the university, the OHP encountered, but overcame, many problems subsequently as a result of underfunding, organizational placement, and, after changes in leadership, interference from the provincial government department responsible for occupational health. The history of the OHP illustrates problems of small training programs and the unique problems of occupational medicine but also its potential as a model for medical training out of hospital that responds to population health as well as individual care.