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
- Transitioning to the future of work: an intersectional study of vulnerable youth and young adults. Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Ongoing.
- Trends in the severity of work-related injury in Ontario. Funded by Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD). Ongoing.
- Understanding the activity patterns of Canadians at work and outside of work, and their association with overall health. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Ongoing.
- Understanding the injury experience of Ontario small businesses through workers’ compensation claims data. Funded by Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD). Ongoing.
- Using decision-tree machine learning to identify worker movement typologies . Ongoing.
Publications
- Smith PM, Beaton DE. Measuring change in psychosocial working conditions: methodological issues to consider when data are collected at baseline and one follow-up time point. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2008;65(4):288-295. doi:10.1136/oem.2006.032144.
- Cote P, Kristman VL, Vidmar M, Van Eerd D, Hogg-Johnson S, Beaton DE, Smith PM. Prevalence and incidence of work absenteeism involving neck pain: a cohort of Ontario lost-time claimants. Spine. 2008;33(4):S192-S198. doi:10.1097/BRS.0b013e3181644616.
- Smith PM, Polanyi M. Understanding the health of work. Institute for Work & Health; 2008.
- Smith PM, Frank JW, Mustard C. Monitoring and surveillance of the psychosocial work environment in Canada: a forgotten determinant of health. Canadian Journal of Public Health. 2008;99(6):475-482.
- Smith PM, Frank JW, Bondy SJ, Mustard C. Do changes in job control predict differences in health status? Results from a longitudinal national survey of Canadians. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2008;70(1):85-91. doi:10.1097/PSY.0b013e31815c4103.
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
- Q&A: New IWH president talks about his role, how he got here, and plans for the years ahead. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 107, Winter 2022.
- How the City of Toronto is supporting employee mental health in 2022 and beyond. Benefits Canada. January 3, 2022. Available from: https://www.benefitscanada.com/benefits/health-benefits/how-the-city-of-toronto-is-supporting-employee-mental-health-in-2022-and-beyond/
- Analyzing the data behind workplace spread of COVID-19. OHS Canada. December 9, 2021. Available from: https://www.ohscanada.com/features/analyzing-the-data-behind-workplace-spread-of-covid-19/
- In most sectors, workplaces saw lower COVID transmission rates than in the community. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 106, Fall 2021.
- 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