CROSH’s faculty research members are active in many different areas of occupational health and safety and related research. Learn how you can become a faculty research member of CROSH.
Dr. Battochio is a bilingual Administrator, Professor, Consultant, and Researcher with a Ph.D. in Human Studies. Since 2007, he has authored and evaluated peer-reviewed research, reports, grant applications and conference papers related to Health, Safety, Environment, and Community. In that time, Dr. Battochio has also conducted hundreds of lecture presentations and workshops at post-secondary institutions and private organizations about Mental Health. He has gained recognition including federal, provincial and local research funding, individual awards, and educational scholarships.
Dr. Sandra Dorman is a Full Professor in the Faculty of Health at Laurentian University and the Director of the Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health (CROSH). Dr. Dorman completed her doctoral degree in physiology/pharmacology and her research program focuses on health promotion and disease prevention in the occupational setting. Continuing areas of research are with wildland firefighters and mine workers.
Dr. Tammy Eger is the Vice-President, Research and Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at Laurentian University. She has over 20-years of applied research experience in occupational health and safety and industrial ergonomics with a particular interest in injury prevention associated with occupational exposure to vibration. During this time, she co-founded the Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health and co-developed the Workplace Simulator Lab, and the mobile CROSH lab (MCROSH). Dr. Eger is committed to strengthening research collaborations, building new partnerships, and advancing equity, diversity and inclusion across the research enterprise.
Dr. Godwin is an Associate Professor at Laurentian University, School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences and the Associate Director for CROSH. Her research interests include the use of virtual reality tools for improving health and safety knowledge in a variety of industrial sectors. She has published in the area of line-of-sight and visibility investigations for underground mining machinery, and has expertise in the implementation of secondary viewing aids. She has an ongoing interest to improve the success of ergonomic intervention through proactive computer analysis.
Dr. Goggins’ is the Senior Scientist for CROSH. Her research interests focus on the role of biomechanics, human factors, and ergonomics on industrial health and safety and occupational disease. More specifically, she researches the influence of standing foot-transmitted vibration exposure on workers. She has 11-years of experience in field whole-body, hand-transmitted, and foot-transmitted vibration measurements. Dr. Goggins is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at Laurentian University and Part-Time Professor in Safety and Environmental Studies at Cambrian College. She is also a Canadian Certified Professional Ergonomist (CCPE).
Dr. Basem Gohar is an assistant professor in the Department of Population Medicine and a clinical psychologist. He leads the University of Guelph’s Research in Occupational Health & Wellness (UGROHW) lab. His research interests are in public health and epidemiology with an emphasis on occupational health and workplace mental health. He applies various research methods, including knowledge synthesis (e.g., meta-analyses & scoping reviews) and mixed methods. In his lab, the research team focuses on identifying and understanding adverse events in the workplace to improve employee well-being and staff retention. Current areas of interest include exploring strategies to optimize the healthcare system beyond the pandemic and the impact of moral distress/injury among animal and human healthcare workers.
Professor and researcher in the field of Human-computer Interaction, User interface design and Game Design.
Dr. Judith Horrigan is a Registered Nurse and has worked in a variety of nursing positions across Northern Ontario. Judith graduated with a Ph.D in Interdisciplinary Rural and Northern Health and is an Associate Professor at Laurentian University in the School of Nursing. Her research interest is focused on exploring the quality of nurse’s work life across Northeastern Ontario. Judith is one of the original members to form CROSH and has served on CROSH’s executive for several years. She is a recipient of CROSH’s impact award and was the Occupational Health and Wellness research lead for CROSH.
Zsuzsanna Kerekes has an M.A. and Ph.D in Psychology from Hungary and has worked as an Assistant Professor at the University of Pécs, Medical School at the Institute of Behavioural Sciences. She was the first post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Research in Occupational Safety and Health and helped lead the Mining Mental Health Study. She teaches several postsecondary courses. She is passionate about health psychology and occupational health psychology.
Dr. Kociolek is an Associate Professor in Biomechanics and Ergonomics. He studies injury mechanisms and prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the forearm, wrist, and hand. His lab-based research is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, which uses motion capture, ultrasound, and electromyography to study neuromusculoskeletal interactions of the wrist and hand. He has also completed field-based research funded by the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba to quantify injury risk of hand-intensive activities inside the pork industry. More recently his occupationally-themed research has focussed on: (1) hand transmitted vibration during vibratory tool use; and (2) the effects computer mouse design on mitigating fatigue and optimizing performance.
Nicole Lafrenière is a Master Lecturer at Laurentian University, Lecturer at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and the Collaborative Simulation Educator between Health Sciences North, Laurentian University and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. Nicole completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) with honors at Laurentian University and has her Master of Nursing from Laurentian University. Nicole comes with expertise in education, nursing, simulation, patient experiences and interprofessional practice/education. She has past clinical experience in pediatrics, public health and in the operating room. Additionally, Nicole participates in several research initiatives specific to simulation, interprofessional education and reproduction. She is happily married and the mother of Maverick and Eric Lafreniere and enjoys working with others and watching her kids play hockey.
Dr. Lievers’ research interests focus on characterizing the mechanical behaviour of biological systems and tissues, modelling their behaviour, and using that information to improve health & safety.
Dr. Nancy Lightfoot’s occupational research interests include: studies of the occupational impacts of various cancers, cardiovascular, and autoimmune conditions, infectious diseases and fractures, on various types of northern workers and their caregivers, as well as their compensation and return to work experiences; occupational cohort studies of mortality and incidence; occupational surveillance studies; and occupational health and safety issues for Indigenous communities.
My research program advances the use of qualitative research methodologies to understand sport and physical activity behaviour. This work is grounded in social constructionism and critical psychology, focusing on socio-cultural influences of sport and physical activity participation. One research line involves critical interpretations of sport/physical activity and implications for self-identity, psycho-social experiences, and health. I also study the digital landscape as a cultural site in the context of identity, sport participation, and health. The goal of this research is to produce knowledge contributing to creating space for people as cultural beings in physical activity contexts.
Dr. Merritt’s research combines genetics and experimentation to explore the connection between genetic diversity and biological complexity. Research in his group often focuses on metabolism, stress, and genetic networks using the fruit fly model system in the laboratory. One project, based in SNOLAB, the deep underground particle physics laboratory two kilometers underground in Creighton mine, uses the fly model, exercise, and this underground environment, to explore the biology of working underground. The central theme in all of Dr. Merritt’s research is complexity. Biology is complex and the more we embrace that, the better we understand the world around us.
Behdin Nowrouzi-Kia, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science, where he also holds the inaugural Emily Geldsaler Grant Early Career Professorship in Workplace Mental Health.
Ann Pegoraro PhD is the Lang Chair in Sport Management and the Director of the International Institute for Sport Business and Leadership at the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics at the University of Guelph, Canada. Dr. Pegoraro is also the Co-Director of E-Alliance, the National Research Network for Gender Equity in Canadian Sport. Dr. Pegoraro has published extensively on the intersection of digital media and sport and is often sought out as an expert in this field.
Dr. Nicholas Ravanelli is an Assistant Professor in the School of Kinesiology at Lakehead University. Dr. Ravanelli’s overarching research objectives are to derive efficient, safe, and effective evidence-based strategies to mitigate heat-related illness for occupational settings, explore the impact of common comorbidities in the workforce on thermoregulatory function, and advance our current understanding of fundamental thermoregulatory control mechanisms.
Dr. Kathryn Sinden RKin, is an Associate Professor (School of Kinesiology) and Associate Scientist (EPID@Work) at Lakehead University. She is also an Affiliate Scientist with the Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health (CROSH) and Past-President of the Canadian Association for Research in Work and Health (CARWH). Her clinical and research expertise is in applied ergonomics and occupational health with a focus towards first responder mental health. Dr. Sinden’s research is founded in principles of Knowledge Translation where the workplace is an integral member of the research team – from identifying the research problem, to implementation, interpretation, and application.