Dave Walton, PhD

Associate Professor

Room 02300A, EC
519 661-2111 x80145
dwalton5@uwo.ca
@uwo_dwalton
Google Scholar
ORCID: 0000-0001-9155-3337
CANSpine Research Group

Education

  • BScPT, MSc, PhD (Western University)

Graduate Program Supervision

  • Advanced Healthcare Practice MClSc
  • Health and Rehabilitation Science MSc | PhD
  • Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry (Psychiatry) MSc | PhD

Research In Profile

Professor Walton is a clinical researcher who focuses on the intersection between trauma, pain, physical and mental health. He uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore these phenomena, and engage in critical theory around measurement of pain, wellness, and other clinical outcomes to enrich the rehabilitation and life experiences of people living with pain.

Featured Publications and Projects

Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals

  • Walton DM, Elliott JM, Schabrun S, Modarresi S, Seo W, May C. Exploring social determinants of post-traumatic pain, distress, depression, and recovery through cross-sectional, longitudinal, and non-linear trends. The Clinical Journal of Pain 2022; 38(8):511-519.
  • Walton DM, Tremblay P, Seo W, Elliott JM, Ghodrati M, May C, MacDermid JC. Effects of childhood trauma on pain-related distress in adults. European Journal of Pain 2021;25:2166-2176.
  • Lee JY, Walton DM (50%). Latent profile analysis of blood marker phenotypes and their relationships with clinical pain and interference reports in people with acute musculoskeletal trauma. Canadian Journal of Pain 2021;5(1):30-42.
  • Walton DM (80%), Marsh J. Reliability, discriminative and prognostic validity of the Multidimensional Symptom Index in musculoskeletal trauma. The Clinical Journal of Pain 2020; 36(9):700-706.
  • Lee J, Walton DM (65%), Tremblay P, May C, Millard W, Elliott JM, MacDermid JC. Defining pain and interference trajectories after acute non-catastrophic musculoskeletal trauma through growth mixture modeling. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2020;21(1):615.
  • Walton DM (75%), Pourkazemi F, Ghodrati M, Elliott JM. A mediational analysis of stress, inflammation, sleep, and pain in acute musculoskeletal trauma. The Clinical Journal of Pain 2020. 36(3):197-202.

Visit Google Scholar for a comprehensive list of publications.

Current Grants and Research Projects

  • The SYMBIOME project (Systematic Merging of Biology, Mental Health, and Environment) – predicting and explaining acute-to-recovery/chronicity longitudinal cohort study. clinicaltrials.gov ID NCT02711085
  • The VISION project (Virtual Interface for Stress Trauma Investigations through open-world navigation) – using virtual reality platforms for human-focused evaluation of simulated traumas
  • Sex- and Gender-based analysis of pain and disability in Canadian Military Veterans
  • Multi-axis phenotyping of injured workers for precision intervention

Graduate Student Projects

Visit Scholarship@Western for a list of completed student theses and dissertations in the repository.

Additional Information

Academic Appointments and Research Affiliations

  • Dept. of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry
  • Discipline of Physiotherapy, University of Sydney, Australia
  • CANSpine Co-Director, Innovative Solutions for Spinal Pain
  • Lawson Health Research Institute
  • Western Bone and Joint Institute
  • Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation Research Network
  • International Whiplash-Associated Disorder Consortium
  • WEAR-Me Mechatronics Research Lab
  • Robarts Research Institute
  • Hand and Upper Limb Centre Clinical Research Lab - St. Joseph's Hospital
  • Parkwood Hospital Operational Stress Injuries Clinic

Awards

  • Western Faculty Scholar (2017-2020)
  • Western Teaching Fellow (2017-2020)
  • Canadian Pain Society Early Career Researcher Award (2016-2017)
  • Ontario Early Reseacher Award (2016-2020)
  • Canadian Physiotherapy Association National Mentorship Award (2014)

Professional Activities

  • Canadian Physiotherapy Association Strategic Research Committee Co-Chair
  • Mental Health Research Advisory Board, Lawson Health Research Institute
  • Pain Research Advisory Board, Lawson Health Research Institute
  • Instructional Skills Workshop Facilitator, Western Centre for Teaching and Learning