Dr. Faraz Vahid Shahidi
Dr. Faraz Vahid Shahidi is an associate scientist at the Institute for Work & Health. He is also an assistant professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
Shahidi has a PhD in social and behavioural health sciences from the University of Toronto and an MPhil in comparative social policy from the University of Oxford. Prior to his current position, he was a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Work & Health.
Shahidi is a social epidemiologist with interdisciplinary training in public health, social policy and political economy. His research examines the social and economic determinants of population health, with a focus on the role that societal conditions play in shaping the health and safety of working people. Some of his specific areas of interest include: the health effects of precarious employment; the impact of labour market policies on population health and health equity; the contribution of working conditions to social inequalities in health; and the structural determinants of occupational injury and illness.
“Work is integral to virtually every aspect of our lives. Work is also a major driver of social inequality in our society. Policies that improve the availability and quality of employment are therefore key to improving population health and reducing health inequalities. With this in mind, my research aims to better understand the role of work as a social determinant of health.” – Dr. Faraz Shahidi
Projects
- Evaluating the effectiveness of distance learning in delivering Ontario's JHSC certification training. Funded by Ontario Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development. Ongoing.
- Exploring how daily patterns of sleep and activity affect the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality among Canadian workers . Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research . Ongoing.
- Intelligent machines and human worker inequities: examining the implications of AI in the workplace. Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC); Future Skills Centre. Ongoing.
- Job quality and wellbeing in Canada: generating insights on the new world of work. Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Occupational injury risks in Ontario. Funded by Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD). Ongoing.
Publications
- Fuller AE, Shahidi FV, Comeau J, Wang L, Wahi G, Dunn JR. Parental employment quality and the mental health and school performance of children and youth. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. 2025 epub ahead of print. doi:10.1136/jech-2024-223366.
- Andreacchi AT, Fuller AE, Smith PM, Blair A, Harris A, Carnide N, Pabayo R, Smith BT, Siddiqi A, Shahidi FV. Employment quality and suicide, drug poisoning, and alcohol-attributable mortality. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2025 epub ahead of print. doi:10.1093/aje/kwaf018.
- Shahidi FV, Liao Q, Landsman V, Mustard C, Robson LS, Biswas A, Smith PM. Is precarious employment an occupational hazard? Evidence from Ontario, Canada. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2024;81(8):381-387. doi:10.1136/oemed-2024-109535.
- Shahidi FV, Liao Q, Landsman V, Mustard C, Robson LS, Biswas A, Smith PM. Precarious employment and the workplace transmission of COVID-19: evidence from workers' compensation claims in Ontario, Canada. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 2024;78(11):675-681. doi:10.1136/jech-2024-222373.
- Shahidi FV, Tracey M, Gignac MA, Oudyk J, Smith PM. Unpaid overtime and mental health in the Canadian working population. American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 2024;67(8):741-752. doi:10.1002/ajim.23622.
Speaker Series presentations
- Good jobs, bad jobs, and ‘deaths of despair’. IWH Speaker Series. April 22, 2025.
- Is precarious employment an occupational hazard?. IWH Speaker Series. February 13, 2024.
- Racial and ethnic inequities in the return-to-work of workers following an injury or illness: Findings from a systematic review. IWH Speaker Series. January 17, 2023.
- The employment quality of persons with disabilities: findings from a national survey. IWH Speaker Series. April 12, 2022.
Interviews and articles
- Cobbling together multiple jobs to make a living...What's the real cost on you?. CBC Radio One: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. September 19, 2024. Available from: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/16095691-cobbling-together-multiple-jobs-living...whats-real-cost-you
- The link between unpaid overtime, stress, and burnout. Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. September 18, 2024. Available from: https://www.ccohs.ca/newsletters/hsreport/issues/2024/09/ezine.html#hsreport-ontopic
- Canadians with disabilities twice as likely to report low quality employment than those without disabilities. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 112, Spring 2023.
- IWH study finds psychosocial work stressors lead to burnout, but not vice versa. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 107, Winter 2022.
- For a segment of the workforce, psychosocial working conditions are poor across the board. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 106, Fall 2021.