Dr. Peter Smith
Dr. Peter Smith is president and senior scientist at the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) in Toronto, and a professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Prior to moving into the president's role in January 2022, Smith was IWH's scientific co-director.
Smith has a master's in public health from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and a PhD from the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. He is a former recipient of a New Investigator Award (2008-2013) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR),a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award from the Australian Research Council (2012-2014), and a five-year CIHR Research Chair in Gender, Work and Health (2014-2018).
Smith has extensive experience conducting research related to work injury and its consequences using large population-based surveys and administrative workers' compensation data. His key research interests include: gender and sex differences in the relationship between work and health; labour market inequalities and their health-related outcomes; labour market experiences of newcomers, older workers, younger workers and other vulnerable labour force subgroups; chronic illnesses and work injury; and trends in working conditions over time.
“I don’t understand how people can think about health without thinking about work. Between our early 20s and our 60s – and later for some people – we spend most of our waking hours at work. It makes sense, then, that aspects of work must have an impact on different aspects of our health, both positively and negatively. That drives me to better understand what good work and bad work look like from a health and return-to-work perspective.” – Dr. Peter Smith
Projects
- Creating safe workplaces for newcomers. Funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Developing approaches to measuring the dimensions of gender and their relationship to health outcomes. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Evaluating the effectiveness of distance learning in delivering Ontario's JHSC certification training. Funded by Ontario Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development. Ongoing.
- Evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of Ontario’s working-at-heights training standard. Funded by Ontario Ministry of Labour. Ongoing.
- Examining sex/gender differences in exposures to workplace-acquired communicable disease: a systematic review. Funded by WorkSafeBC. Ongoing.
Publications
- Biswas A, Gilbert-Ouimet M, Mustard C, Glazier RH, Smith PM. Combined associations of work and leisure time physical activity on incident diabetes risk. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2021;60(3):e149-e158. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2020.09.017.
- Rahim A, Mclsaac MA, Aronson KJ, Smith PM, Tranmer JE. The associations of shift work, sleep quality, and incidence of hypertension in Ontario adults: a population-based study. Canadian Journal of Cardiology. 2021;37(3):513-518. doi:10.1016/j.cjca.2020.09.003.
- Dobson KG , Vigod SN, Mustard C, Smith PM. Major depressive episodes and employment earnings trajectories over the following decade among working-aged Canadian men and women. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2021;285:37-46. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2021.02.019.
- Gilbert-Ouimet M, Glazier RH, Brisson C, Mustard C, Smith PM. Job strain, overweight, and diabetes: a 13-year prospective study among 12,896 men and women in Ontario. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2021;83(2):187-195. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000000898.
- Shahidi FV, Gignac MA, Oudyk J, Smith PM. Assessing the psychosocial work environment in relation to mental health: a comprehensive approach. Annals of Work Exposures and Health. 2021 [epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1093/annweh/wxaa130.
Speaker Series presentations
- Refining estimates of occupational exposures and risk of workplace COVID-19 transmission. IWH Speaker Series. January 16, 2024.
- Building on the past, looking to the future: Presenting the IWH Strategic Plan, 2023-27. IWH Speaker Series. May 23, 2023.
- Workplace COVID-19 protections and transmission: Findings from population-level data in Canada. IWH Speaker Series. October 19, 2021.
- Differences in the return-to-work process for work-related psychological and musculoskeletal conditions: findings from an Australian cohort. IWH Speaker Series. April 6, 2021.
- More than just COVID-19 prevention: Exploring the links between PPE, safe work protocols and workers' mental health. IWH Speaker Series. November 10, 2020.
Interviews and articles
- Women in education sector at greater risk of workplace violence. Canadian Occupational Safety. August 31, 2018. Available from: https://www.cos-mag.com/psychological-health-safety/37860-women-in-education-sector-at-greater-risk-of-workplace-violence/
- Work-related stressors impact women and men differently, research finds. Workers Health & Safety Centre. August 28, 2018. Available from: https://www.whsc.on.ca/what-s-new/news-archive/work-related-stressors-impact-women-and-men-differ
- Sex/gender analysis: Are risks of violence at work higher for men or women? It depends on type of violence. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 93, Summer 2018.
- Sex/gender analysis: Links between psychosocial work factors and stress not always as expected. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 93, Summer 2018.
- Working overtime could raise women's diabetes risk. U.S. News & World Report. July 2, 2018. Available from: https://health.usnews.com/health-care/articles/2018-07-02/working-overtime-could-raise-womens-diabetes-risk