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
Publications
- Shafi R, Smith PM, Colantonio A. Assault predicts time away from work after claims for work-related mild traumatic brain injury. Occupational & Environmental Medicine. 2019;76(7):471-478. doi:10.1136/oemed-2018-105621.
- Fan J, Mustard C, Smith PM. Psychosocial work conditions and mental health: examining differences across mental illness and well-being outcomes. Annals of Work Exposures and Health. 2019 [Epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1093/annweh/wxz028.
- Van Eerd D, Smith PM, Vu U. Implications of an aging workforce for work injury, recovery, returning to work and remaining at work. OOHNA Journal. 2019 30-36. Full text.
- Ramkissoon A, Smith PM, Oudyk J. Dissecting the effect of workplace exposures on workers' rating of psychological health and safety. American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 2019;62(5):412-421. doi:10.1002/ajim.22964.
- Black O, Sim MR, Collie A, Smith PM. Differences over time in the prognostic effect of return to work self-efficacy on a sustained return to work. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. 2019;29(3):660-667. doi:10.1007/s10926-018-09824-z.
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.
Research summaries
- Distinct types of OHS vulnerability seen in young, temporary, small business employees. At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, November 2015.
- IWH research on vulnerable workers leads to tool for measuring risk factors. At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, April 2015.
- Premium rates, work demands play role in whether injuries involve time loss . At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, February 2015.
- IWH to explore how work affects health of women and men differently. At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, November 2014.
- Chronic conditions worsen outcomes for injured older workers, but not by much. At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, May 2014.
Media coverage
- 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
- No, a standing desk isn't as unhealthy as smoking. The Guardian: Guardian News and Media (London). September 21, 2017. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/science/sifting-the-evidence/2017/sep/21/no-a-standing-desk-isnt-as-unhealthy-as-smoking
- Bad news: Now standing at work is killing you, too. GQ: Conde Nast (New York, NY). September 17, 2017. Available from: https://www.gq.com/story/standing-death-study
- If you stand for too long at work, you could double your risk of this disease. Reader's Digest. September 15, 2017. Available from: https://www.rd.com/health/conditions/standing-increases-risk-heart-disease-study/
- Standing too much at work can double your risk of heart disease. The Conversation. September 11, 2017. Available from: https://theconversation.com/standing-too-much-at-work-can-double-your-risk-of-heart-disease-83629