Using research evidence to help prevent work disability in Ontario

Doors open 4:30 p.m.
Presentation 5.00 p.m.
Reception 6.00 p.m.

Design Exchange
234 Bay Street, 2nd Floor
Toronto, Ontario

Judy Geary
Former Executive, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)

In 2015, WSIB marked 100 years of service to employers and workers in Ontario. Over the past decade, the Board embarked on significant reforms to strengthen case management services provided to employers and injured workers and to improve vocational rehabilitation services for workers disabled by a work-related injury or illness. These reforms have contributed to the prevention of more than two million lost work days annually in the Ontario economy, according to WSIB. As a member of the WSIB executive team, Judy Geary played a leading role in the design and implementation of these complex reforms. In leading these reforms, Geary drew guidance from the international research on effective practices in work disability prevention. In her lecture, Geary will outline some of the lessons learned in integrating research evidence in the reform of valued public services.

About presenter

Judy Geary retired from executive responsibilities at Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board in 2012. She has 35 years of experience working with people with disabilities and has held responsibilities for the administration of health-care, work reintegration and case management services. Skilled in executive leadership, including strategic planning, financial management and program development, Geary is an acknowledged supporter and user of occupational health research. In addition to past assignments on not-for-profit boards, she currently sits as a volunteer on the boards of Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, Canadian Institute for the Relief of Pain and Disability (CIRPD), National Institute of Disability Management and Research (NIDMAR), and Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences (PCU-WHS). Geary holds a master's degree in adult education from the University of Toronto.

About the Alf Nachemson Memorial Lecture

The annual Alf Nachemson Memorial Lecture honours the significant contribution of Dr. Alf Nachemson to the use of research evidence in clinical decision-making. Dr. Nachemson was a distinguished orthopaedic surgeon and researcher from Sweden, and a founding member of the Institute for Work & Health’s Scientific Advisory Committee.  The lectureship is awarded to a prominent national or international individual who has made a significant and unique contribution to evidence-based practice or policy-making in the prevention of work-related injury, illness or disability.