IWH associate wins Vanier scholarship
Nancy Carnide, a research associate at the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), is among the first group of doctoral students in Canada and abroad to be awarded a prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship.
Federal Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear announced the first 166 recipients of the new scholarship – worth $50,000 a year for up to three years – on April 30. It was certainly a surprise, said Carnide about being among the first to receive this sought-after award. This will allow me to really focus on my research.
Carnide, a PhD student at the University of Toronto, is studying the use of pain medication for work-related musculoskeletal disorders. She is exploring how and when these medications are used, their impact on work disability, and the potential role of mental health. Carnide’s research into depressive symptoms among injured workers appeared in the Spring 2009 issue of At Work.
The recipients of these scholarships are the world’s leading doctoral students and the next generation of researchers, professors and industry leaders who will make considerable economic and social contributions in Canada and abroad, Goodyear said.
New centre focuses on workplace cancer
Canada has its first research centre dedicated solely to identifying, preventing and eliminating work-related cancers. Called the Occupational Cancer Research Centre, it was launched in March by Cancer Care Ontario, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), the Canadian Cancer Society (Ontario Division) and the United Steelworkers. IWH is working with the new centre to explore potential research contributions.
Pilot project offers free access to Cochrane
Canadians can now download reviews from the Cochrane Library for free as part of a pilot project. Until the end of 2009, Canadians can access the best evidence on a wide range of treatment procedures. That includes reviews from the Cochrane Back Review Group (CBRG) housed at IWH, as well as a review of workplace interventions for preventing work disability involving IWH Adjunct Scientist Dr. Renée-Louise Franche. To access reviews, go to: www.thecochranelibrary.com.
IWH welcomes new science, KTE advisors
IWH is pleased to announce appointments to its Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and its Knowledge Transfer & Exchange Advisory Committee (KTEAC).
Joining the SAC are:
- Les Boden, a professor and associate chair of environmental health in the School of Public Health at Boston University, U.S.A.;
- Eira Viikari-Juntura, a researcher at the Centre of Expertise of Health and Work Ability at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health; and
- Margaret Whitehead, who holds the W.H. Duncan Chair of Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Liverpool, U.K., where she is also the head of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Policy Research on the Social Determinants of Health.
The new KTEAC members include:
- Maureen Dobbins, an associate professor in the School of Nursing at McMaster University and a scientist at the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care;
- Paul Kilbertus, a corporate communications professional who has held positions with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Health Services Restructuring Commission and eHealth Ontario; and
- Jill Ramseyer, the health, safety and disability manager for the TDL Group, the operating company of Tim Hortons.