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
- Future-proofing young Canadians with disabilities for the changing labour market. Funded by New Frontiers in Research Fund (a Tri-Agency Program—CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC). 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.
- 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)
- Ontario Life After Work Injury Study: Understanding the long-term recovery and labour market outcomes of injured workers in Ontario. Funded by Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario. Ongoing.
Publications
- Carnide N, Chrystoja BR, Lee H, Furlan AD, Smith PM. Cannabis use motives and associations with personal and work characteristics among Canadian workers: a cross-sectional study. Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology. 2024;19(1):25. doi:10.1186/s12995-024-00424-7.
- Orchard C, Lin E, Rosella L, Smith PM. Using unsupervised clustering approaches to identify common mental health profiles and associated mental healthcare service use patterns in Ontario, Canada. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2024;193(7):976-986. doi:10.1093/aje/kwae030.
- Somani R, Muntaner C, Velonis AJ, Smith PM, Hillan EM. Factors contributing to increased workplace violence against nurses during COVID-19 in the healthcare settings of a lower middle-income country: a qualitative study. Asian Nursing Research. 2024;18(2):148-158. doi:10.1016/j.anr.2024.04.008.
- Quinn TD, Lane A, Pettee Gabriel K, Sternfeld B, Jacobs Jr DR, Smith PM. Associations between occupational physical activity and left ventricular structure and function over 25 years in CARDIA. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. . 2024;31(4):425-433. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwad349.
- Mustard C, Orchard C, Dobson KG , Carnide N, Smith PM. The adequacy of workplace accommodation and the incidence of permanent employment separations after a disabling work injury or illness. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. 2024;50(3):208-217. doi:10.5271/sjweh.4149.
Speaker Series presentations
- Reporting and consequences of workplace violence in six Ontario hospitals. IWH Speaker Series. May 22, 2018.
- Towards a better understanding of differences in the risk of workplace violence for men and women in Canada. IWH Speaker Series. March 27, 2018.
- Evaluating the impact of mandatory awareness training in Ontario. IWH Speaker Series. April 11, 2017.
- Understanding return to work in MSD claims versus psychological injuries, for younger workers versus older workers. IWH Speaker Series. September 29, 2015.
- Developing a measure of OHS vulnerability. IWH Speaker Series. January 20, 2015.
Interviews and articles
- In Ontario's housing crisis, immigrants are the scapegoat and the solution. The Local. January 29, 2025. Available from: https://thelocal.to/construction-labour-housing-immigrants-foreign-workers/
- Lancet series calls for greater attention to work as social determinant of health. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 114, Fall 2023.
- The impact of work on well-being: 6 factors that will affect the future of work and health inequalities. The Conversation Canada. October 15, 2023. Available from: https://theconversation.com/the-impact-of-work-on-well-being-6-factors-that-will-affect-the-future-of-work-and-health-inequalities-215047
- IWH tool comes out ahead in Australian study of OHS leading indicator tools. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 111, Winter 2023.
- Educators lack protection in-class and support online, studies find. Workers Health & Safety Centre. November 17, 2022. Available from: https://www.whsc.on.ca/What-s-new/News-Archive/Educators-lack-protection-in-class-and-support-online-studies-find