Project team

Dr. Nancy Carnide is an associate scientist at the Institute for Work & Health and co-principal investigator on this project. She is also an assistant professor (status only) in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Through the analysis of survey and administrative data, as well as systematic reviews, she conducts research at the intersection between occupational health and safety and substance use. Her emerging program of research includes examining the use of prescription and recreational substances among workers, their risk factors, and the workplace consequences of their use, with a focus on cannabis and opioids.

Carnide holds a PhD in epidemiology from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. During her PhD, she was the recipient of a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Strategic Training Fellowship in Work Disability Prevention.

Dr. Paul Demers is the director of the Occupational Cancer Research Centre, based at Ontario Health, and co-principal investigator on this project. He is also a professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and a clinical professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, where he was formerly the director of the School of Environmental Health. He is an epidemiologist whose research focuses on the causes and prevention of a wide range of occupational diseases. He has extensive experience overseeing and conducting epidemiological and occupational health research. He is also the principal investigator of the Occupational Disease Surveillance Program (ODSS).

Demers has an MSc in industrial hygiene and a PhD in epidemiology, both from the University of Washington in Seattle. He is internationally recognized for his expertise on the health effects of workplace exposures and sits on many expert panels.

Dr. Jeavana Sritharan is the scientific lead for surveillance with the Occupational Cancer Research Centre and on this project. She completed her PhD in medical science (occupational epidemiology) at the University of Toronto and has experience working with large administrative datasets to examine disease risks in working populations. She currently leads projects with the ODSS to monitor cancer risks and other health outcomes in the Ontario workforce.

Jill MacLeod is a senior research associate with the Occupational Cancer Research Centre and the senior research associate on this project. Since leading a 2014 pilot project, she has contributed to the development of the ODSS and its use for detecting work-related risks of disease. She previously conducted occupational cancer surveillance using the Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohort.

Chaojie (Daniel) Song is a research associate at the Occupational Cancer Research Centre and an analyst on this project, working with the research team to monitor and describe opioid-related harms in the ODSS. Song completed his MSc in occupational health at the University of British Columbia. He is experienced in data management and analysis and is involved with the ODSS project to monitor cancer risks and other health outcomes in the Ontario workforce.

Dr. Andrea Furlan is a scientist at the Institute for Work & Health and a co-investigator on this project. She is also a physiatrist and senior scientist at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (University Health Network), and an associate professor in the Department of Medicine’s Division of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is co-chair of ECHO Ontario Chronic Pain and Opioid Stewardship, co-chair of ECHO Ontario Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and chair of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board Drug Advisory Committee. Furlan led the development of the original 2010 Canadian Guideline for Safe and Effective Use of Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain and has contributed substantial clinical and research expertise on the use of opioids for pain.

Sara Macdonald is the manager of knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) at the Institute for Work & Health and a KTE specialist on this project.  She and her team engage stakeholders in research projects, from concept development to the dissemination of research results. She also oversees stakeholder knowledge exchange networks representing workplace parties and health practitioners. She earned an occupational health and safety certificate at Toronto Metropolitan University to complement her earlier education in science at the University of Waterloo and in business systems management from Askengren College in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Sabrina Tonima is a KTE associate at the Institute for Work & Health and a KTE specialist on this project. Her role at IWH is to work with the KTE team and Institute scientists to engage stakeholders in research projects. She has been involved in a variety of qualitative and mixed-methods studies, including research on the future of work disability policy in Canada, working-at-heights training, workplace violence and more. Her previous experience also includes working in front-line health and safety in the manufacturing and education sectors. She has a master’s degree in health evaluation from the University of Waterloo.