Dr. Arif Jetha
Dr. Arif Jetha is associate scientific director and scientist at the Institute for Work & Health. He is also an associate professor (status-only) at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
Jetha earned his PhD in behavioural sciences and public health at the University of Toronto, and an MSc in health community and development from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He also held post-doctoral fellowships at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety and the Institute for Work & Health.
Jetha’s program of research aims at understanding how sociopolitical, technological, environmental and economic changes that characterize the future of work affect the health and employment participation of vulnerable workers including young workers and persons living with disabilities. He is specifically interested in the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) on the health, safety and well-being of workers.
To pursue his research program, Jetha takes a systems perspective and uses a mixed-methods research approach. He collaborates closely with diverse research partners to produce findings that can inform policy and practice.
“The world of work is changing at a rapid rate. Studying the future of work allows me to understand the emerging challenges facing workers and create an evidence base that can be used to inform the design of policies and programs that are resilient to change and protect the most vulnerable.”
— Dr. Arif Jetha
Projects
- Accommodating and Communicating about Episodic Disabilities (ACED): A partnership to deliver workplace resources to sustain employment of people with chronic, episodic conditions. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada Signature Initiative. Ongoing.
- Advancing research on AI adoption and the health, safety and well-being of workers. Funded by Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD), WorkSafeBC. Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Artificial intelligence and occupational injury and illness in Ontario: implications for prevention and recovery. Funded by Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Champions as social agents of change: what can we learn from worker well-being initiatives?. Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Ongoing.
- Future-focused job accommodation practices for the school-to-work transition. Funded by Accessibility Standards Canada (Government of Canada). Ongoing. (PI on the project)
Publications
- Jetha A, Lee H, Smith MJ, Arrandale VH, Biswas A, Mustard C, Smith PM. Landscape of artificial intelligence use for occupational health and safety practice in two Canadian provinces. American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 2025 epub ahead of print. doi:10.1002/ajim.70018.
- Gignac MA, Bowring J, Saunders R, Navaratnerajah L, Smith PM, Jetha A. Why are disclosure decisions so difficult? Understanding factors that encourage and discourage workers with a chronic disabling condition from disclosing health information at work. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. 2025 epub ahead of print. doi:10.1007/s10926-025-10326-y.
- Jetha A, Bakhtari H, Irvin E, Biswas A, Smith MJ, Mustard C, Arrandale VH, Dennerlein JT, Smith PM. Do occupational health and safety tools that utilize artificial intelligence have a measurable impact on worker injury or illness? Findings from a systematic review. Systematic Reviews. 2025;14(1):146. doi:10.1186/s13643-025-02869-1.
- Jetha A, Liao Q, Shahidi FV, Vu V, Biswas A, Smith B, Smith PM. Machine learning and the labor market: a portrait of occupational and worker inequities in Canada. Social Science & Medicine. 2025;381:118295. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118295.
- Di Giuseppe G, Jetha A, Pechlivanoglou P, Pole JD. Long-term dynamic financial impacts among adolescents and young adults with cancer: a longitudinal matched-cohort study. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2025 epub ahead of print. doi:10.1200/JCO-24-02121.
Speaker Series presentations
- Promoting labour market transitions for young adults with chronic disabling conditions: a systematic review. IWH Speaker Series. November 27, 2018.
- Life course concepts in the work experiences of people with arthritis. IWH Speaker Series. November 22, 2016.
Research summaries
- Disability leave duration rises with age, chronic conditions. At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, August 2016.
Media coverage
- Coronavirus: The risks to essential workers with hidden health conditions. The Conversation. April 15, 2020. Available from: https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-the-risks-to-essential-workers-with-hidden-health-conditions-135819
- Despite social distancing, many front-line public workers feel the strain. The Globe and Mail. March 20, 2020. Available from: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/article-despite-social-distancing-many-front-line-public-workers-feel-the/
- The future of work will hit vulnerable people the hardest. The Conversation. March 2, 2020.
- What’s causing the bottleneck in disability management?. Canadian HR Reporter. February 24, 2020. Available from: https://www.hrreporter.com/focus-areas/wellness-mental-health/whats-causing-the-bottleneck-in-disability-management/326532
- Employers miss out on talent by overlooking workers living with disabilities. The Conversation. July 25, 2019. Available from: https://theconversation.com/employers-miss-out-on-talent-by-overlooking-workers-living-with-disabilities-119626