Dr. Anil Adisesh, MB Chb, MSc, MD, FRCP, FROM, FRCP is Head of Division, Occupational Medicine, St. Michael`s Hospital Assoc and Professor and Division Director, Occupational Medicine University of Toronto. The overarching theme to Dr. Adisesh’s research is “promoting long and healthy working lives.” This theme recognizes the benefit of work to individuals, the necessity of longer working lives in a world with an aging population, and the prevention of work-related disease. Dr. Adisesh has a research interest in the role of the exposome in disease causation. His current research includes using toenails as a biomatrix for metallome profiling comparing cancer cases with controls, and investigating the effects of work and health with the Atlantic PATH Cohort. In clinical service provision, he plans to establish the potential for digital technologies to be incorporated in clinical occupational medicine practice.
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 the Director of the Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health, and a Full Professor at Laurentian University. Dr. Dorman’s expertise is in physiology/pharmacology and her research program focuses on health promotion and disease prevention in the occupational setting. Her recent work has centred on fatigue mitigation (including nutrition, fitness, sleep, stress and psychosocial hazards) in physically demanding workforces (such as Mine Rescue, Mining, Wildland Firefighting, and Structural Firefighting) with high incidences of fatigue-related injuries. Currently, she is focusing on two primary themes in the occupational setting: 1) modifiable contributors to fatigue, and 2) the use of wearable technology in the occupational setting. She has a track record for successfully addressing host-identified problems and communicating information back to the host organization.
705-675-1151 ext. 1015
Dr. Eger’s research interests focus around the application of ergonomic and human factors principles in industry. She is a leader in the field of occupational vibration and has done seminal work to document whole-body vibration and foot-transmitted vibration exposure associated with surface and underground mining activities. She is also recognized for her research examining the link between working posture, line-of-sight and mobile equipment design. She is an invited member of the International Standards for Organization technical committee concerned with human vibration.
705-675-1151 ext. 3944
Dr. Gagnon is the Research Lead for Occupational Physiology and Environment at CROSH. Dr. Gagnon gained knowledge in the field of occupational health and safety from working at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health from 2010 to 2014. He has been an Assistant Professor in the School of Human Kinetics at Laurentian and a member of the Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health since 2015. His work involves investigating the effects of environmental factors and temperature on human metabolism in various populations. From his work, he is particularly looking into: 1) the use of fat and sugar during cold and warm exposure during physical work and how it relates to fatigue, 2) the influence of working in cold and warm conditions on the immune system, and 3) how oxygen availability and use is altered under thermal stress during physical work.
Dr. Giga is a Senior Lecturer in Organizational Health and Well-Being. He has researched extensively on workplace bullying and stress, with a particular focus on interventions in health and public sector organizations. Dr. Giga has advised a number of national and international bodies such as the UK Government Office for Science on working hours and mental health, the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on their ‘Stress Management Standards’, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) on workplace bullying and the United Nation’s International Labour Office on work-related stress and violence.
Dr. Godwin is the Associate Director of CROSH. As an emerging leader in OHS research, Dr. Godwin has a consistent track record in publishing original research pertaining to line-of-sight and the reduction of fatal injuries in the workplace. Her occupational health and safety interest include developing a portable data collection tool to gather long-term joint loading data in industrial sectors, using methods of functional data analysis to evaluate the effect of fatigue on cumulative loading waveforms and investigating gender differences that occur in manual material handling tasks.
705-675-1151 ext. 1079
Dr. Katie Goggins is a Postdoctoral Researcher at CROSH and is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at Laurentian University. Her research interests focus on the role of biomechanics, human factors, and ergonomics on industrial health and safety and occupational disease.
Dr. Basem Gohar is an adjunct professor at Laurentian University’s School of Human Kinetics and School of Rural and Northern Health. He is also an adjunct professor at University of Guelph’s Psychology Department. He holds a Ph.D. from Laurentian’s School of Rural and Northern Health (Health Services Stream) and a M.Sc. in Psychology from the United States. His research interests are in public health with special focus in workplace mental health as well as identifying antecedents of sickness absenteeism. He commonly uses both quantitative (including systematic reviews & meta-analyses) and qualitative methods. He is also a clinical psychologist in the public and private sectors.
Dr. Grewal brings innovative ideas into the multi-disciplinary field of human-computer interaction (HCI). His work of using the quantitative electroencephalogaphy (QEEG) to measure the user’s cognitive demand during interface use is a first in the HCI field. His experiments have generated publications in the fields of neuroscience and computer science. In 2007, Dr. Grewal formed the HCI Research Group consisting of collaborators from the Neuroscience Research Group and industry partners.
705-675-1151 ext. 2351
Dr. Horrigan is the Research Lead for Occupational Health and Wellness at CROSH. A full time faculty member with the School of Nursing at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, Judith has over 25 years of nursing experience in a variety of urban, rural and remote clinical settings as Northern Ontario and Ethiopia, East Africa. Her research interests include, quality of work life, healthy workplace environments, health services and policy research, , correctional nursing work environments, and telenursing educational needs. Prof. Horrigan is currently exploring the quality of nurse’s worklife in urban, rural, and remote settings as part of her doctoral studies in Rural and Northern Health.
705-675-1151 ext. 3718
Dr. 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 is currently a post-doctoral researcher with the Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health (CROSH) at Laurentian University and a clinical associate at a private practice in Sudbury. She has 16 years of experience in different areas of psychology and occupational health psychology. Dr. Kerekes has a membership with different professional associations such as the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) or European Health Psychology Society (EHPS).
Dr. Kociolek’s research interests include, generally: Occupational biomechanics, Ergonomics, Neuromuscular control, Work-related musculoskeletal disorders, and Injury prevention. More specifically, his research interests include: Wrist and hand biomechanics, Pathomechanics, Injury mechanisms, Sensorimotor function, Ergonomic assessment methods, and Workplace interventions.
Dr. Aaron Langille is a Laurentian graduate-turned-professor of computer science and video game design. He is an advocate for effective learning and student engagement strategies including gamification and open educational resources. His research includes novel applications of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and solving problems through computer simulation. He is active on social media where he shares a variety of insights primarily through memes, hashtags and emoji.
705-675-1151 ext 2335
Dr. Céline Larivière current research interests are in the broad areas of occupational wellness and exercise as medicine. She is engaged in collaborative research projects aimed at investigating the determinants of wellness in workers within the mining industry with a particular focus on factors that impact sleep health. Also, she is involved in research studies aimed to optimize exercise paradigms and rehabilitation programs to maximize the health and quality of life outcomes for patients undergoing care for various chronic and acute conditions.
705-675-1151 x 1003
Dr. Michel Larivière is a practicing clinical psychologist whose current research is focused on mental health in the workplace. In particular, he is interested in identifying the factors that predict injury and absenteeism. Drawing from his work in risk prediction, he intends to develop actuarial-type instruments to assist workplace decision-makers on matters of employee injury and illness. Because of their significant human and economic costs, the factors that predict a timely return to work after an illness or injury are also currently being studied by Dr. Larivière. The results of several large-scale studies on various occupational groups (e.g. health care workers, correctional workers, administrators, tradespersons/labourers, etc.) have been completed and published by Dr. Larivière and a number of collaborators. A unique contribution of this work is the finding that worker attitudes are strong predictors of a workers’ overall adjustment. Attitudinal variables contribute significantly to job stress, job satisfaction and the commitment to one’s employer. These are in turn related to overall health and putatively, to injury, workplace adjustment, performance, absenteeism, presenteeism, and civility.
705-675-1151 ext. 1202
Dr. Brent Lievers’ interests involve the application of engineering techniques to the testing and modelling of biological systems, particularly bone. He has applied these tools in realms such as sports and forensics with a view to injury characterization, mitigation, and prevention. He has also collaborated with Dr. Tammy Eger on occupational health and safety studies of the human body’s response to vibration exposure.
705-675-1151 ext. 2382
Dr. Nancy Lightfoot is an epidemiologist, microbiologist, and Full Professor in the School of Rural and Northern Health. Her research interests include: studies of the occupational and other impacts of various cancers, cardiovascular, and other chronic and infectious diseases 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 health and safety issues for Indigenous communities; predictors of cancer survival; the impact of wildfires and evacuations on communities; and factors associated with, and the impact of, travel for health care. She does qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research. She also conducts occupational epidemiological research with other CROSH investigators, as well as some external investigators. Many of her graduate students are members of CROSH and conduct occupationally-related research for their theses.
705-675-1151 ext. 3972
Dr. Merritt’s research combines bioinformatics, functional genomics, and experimentation to explore the connection between genetic diversity and biological complexity. A past Canada Research Chair in Genomics and Bioinformatics, Dr. Merritt was trained as an evolutionary biologist and expanded into experimental studies of enzymes, metabolism, and stress biology as a postdoc and in starting his own lab. Research in his group often focuses on metabolism, stress, and genetic networks using the fruit fly model system in the laboratory, but projects also include a wide variety of organisms, locations, and biological questions.
Dr. Behdin Nowrouzi-Kia’s systematically studies occupations in the areas of work disability prevention, return to work and disability management. His work is motivated by efforts in the field of work disability prevention that extends beyond the efforts to prevent or heal diseases from a purely physical perspective, towards more holistic approaches. The major tenets of Dr. Nowrouzi-Kia’s work use a biopsychosocial view to understand work disability and extend towards incorporating personal characteristics (e.g., psychosocial) and environmental (e.g., healthcare system, workplace, workers’ compensation system) factors in improving health outcomes. Dr. Nowrouzi-Kia is also the founder of Infinity Health Consulting Group and OT Services North.
Ann Pegoraro is the Lang Chair in Sport Management currently holds an appointment as a Full Professor in the School of Hospitality, Food, and Tourism, all at the University of Guelph. Dr. Pegoraro is also the co-Director of the National Network for Research on Gender Equity in Canadian Sport. Dr. Pegoraro holds a doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and an MBA degree from Laurentian University. She is an experienced leader with a demonstrated history of working with the industry. Ann is a strong professional skilled in Applied Research, Partnership Development, Digital Media, Gender Equity, Nonprofit Organizations, and Sport Consumer Behavior.
After receiving his Bachelor of Science Degree from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Dr. Quesnele attended the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) in Toronto. After graduating with a Doctor of Chiropractic Degree in 2010, he was accepted into the Clinical Sciences Residency Program at CMCC. This two-year post-graduate training program creates a clinical musculoskeletal specialist and researcher, who works well within interdisciplinary settings. Dr. Quesnele has several peer-reviewed publications, has presented his research in several international conferences, and is currently involved in many research projects.
Dr. Stephen Ritchie is an Assistant Professor in the School of Human Kinetics at Laurentian University. His current research projects are focused on developing and evaluating community paramedicine and community-based emergency care programs for rural and remote communities, and understanding wilderness, adventure and outdoor education in the context of achieving personal growth and holistic health outcomes. He is currently active in a diverse portfolio of research.
As an avid outdoorsman, Stephen has international mountaineering experience scaling peaks throughout Canada, the United States, Alaska, Mexico, and in the Himalayas. He has also canoed, kayaked, and rafted throughout Canada on turbulent whitewater rivers, and he has led several long backcountry wilderness expeditions in some of the most remote regions of Canada. Stephen resides in Sudbury Ontario with his wife Nathalie and their two children Tristan and Ixta. And when he is not too busy with his teaching, research, climbing, or paddling adventures, he can be found lounging on the bank of the Aux Sables River in northern Ontario.
705-675-1151 ext 1046
Dr. Sinden is the Research Lead for Human Factors and Ergonomics at CROSH. Dr. Sinden’s research aims to prevent and reduce the human and financial impact of workplace injuries through 1) Applied Ergonomics. She collaborates with employers, workers and other stakeholders, using principles of knowledge translation, to develop tools that can be used in primary and secondary injury prevention. 2) Identifying Determinants of Occupational Task Performance. Dr. Sinden uses motion-capture and electromyography to identify how gender impacts development of muscle fatigue during occupational task performance.
Dr. Line Tremblay, is a registered clinical psychologist, a full professor at Laurentian University, and a full professor in the Clinical Sciences Division at Northern Ontario School of Medicine. She is currently the Interim Dean of Laurentian University Faculty of Health. She is the co-founder of the Human Movement and Perception Virtual Reality Laboratory where she is currently conducting applied health research on body image related pathology and motor movement using virtual reality and haptics.