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
- 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.
- Moving the needle on preventing workplace fatalities and critical incidents in Ontario through data linkage. Funded by Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), supported by WorkSafe Ontario Fund. Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Occupational injury risks in Ontario. Funded by Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD). Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Ontario Life After Work Injury Study: Cannabis use and long-term recovery and return-to-work outcomes among Ontario injured workers. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Partnership on AI and Quality of work (PAIQ) . Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Ongoing.
Publications
- Jessiman-Perreault G, Smith PM, Thompson AMS, Gignac MA. Do gender and chronic or episodic disability type moderate the relationship between support availability, perceived workplace support towards disclosure and job disruptions?. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. 2026 [epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1007/s10926-026-10399-3.
- Giesinger I, Buajitti E, Siddiqi A, Smith PM, Krishnan RG, Postill G. Population-based clustering of co-occurring social determinants: an application of unsupervised machine learning. Annals of Epidemiology. 2026;117:110062. doi:10.1016/j.annepidem.2026.110062.
- Di Giuseppe G, Jetha A, Pechlivanoglou P, Smith PM, Pole JD. Cancer among adolescents and young adults contributes to reduced employment: relationship not mediated by educational attainment. Journal of Cancer Survivorship. 2026 [epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1007/s11764-026-02000-w.
- St Cyr K, Kurdyak P, Smith PM, Aiken AB, Cramm H, Mahar AL. Psychiatric hospitalizations among Canadian Armed Forces Veterans and former Royal Canadian Mounted Police members residing in Ontario: a retrospective cohort study. Canadian Journal of Public Health. 2026 [epub ahead of print]. doi:10.17269/s41997-026-01174-1.
- Landsman V, Wang L, Carrillo-Garcia I, Mitani AA, Smith PM, Graubard BI, Bui T, Carnide N. Correction for participation bias in nonprobability samples using multiple reference surveys. Statistics in Medicine. 2026;45(3):e70403. doi:10.1002/sim.70403.
Speaker Series presentations
- An examination of the working conditions and risk factors for work-related injuries among immigrant workers in Ontario. IWH Speaker Series. February 3, 2009.
Research summaries
- Workplace violence against women rising, driven by growing rates in education sector. At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, April 2019.
- Women’s work more likely than men’s to be disrupted due to caring for older relatives. At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, April 2019.
- Supportive supervisors help reduce risks when workers face hazards, lack protection . At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, February 2019.
- Slight improvements seen in workplace psychosocial conditions over 10 years. At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, November 2018.
- OHS vulnerability among new immigrants. Research Highlights: Institute for Work & Health, August 2018.
Media coverage
- Lessons from COVID-19 for the next pandemic: We need better data on workplace transmission. The Conversation. November 9, 2021. Available from: https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-covid-19-for-the-next-pandemic-we-need-better-data-on-workplace-transmission-170023
- How to take care of your body if you stand all day at work. Vice. July 15, 2021. Available from: https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7epy3/how-to-prevent-pain-injury-fatigue-health-problems-if-you-stand-all-day-at-work
- Work-related mental illnesses cost more than physical injuries do. Talent Canada. May 11, 2021. Available from: https://www.talentcanada.ca/work-related-mental-illnesses-cost-more-than-physical-injuries/
- Work-related mental illnesses cost more than physical injuries do. Talent Canada. May 11, 2021. Available from: https://www.talentcanada.ca/work-related-mental-illnesses-cost-more-than-physical-injuries/
- Ontario locks down on Boxing Day, but essential workers still work. Without protections like paid sick leave, it just won’t work. Inside Halton. December 23, 2020. Available from: https://www.insidehalton.com/opinion-story/10296074-ontario-locks-down-on-boxing-day-but-essential-workers-still-work-without-protections-like-paid-sick-leave-it-just-won-t-work/