Drs. Steven Shea, Stephen Lloyd and Kent Anger met with the Workers’ Compensation Division (WCD) management team on April 5, at WCD Director Lou Savage’s invitation, to describe the Oregon Institute on Occupational Health Sciences (OccHealthSci) programs and priorities.  Dr. Shea (right) described the legislative mandate dedicating funding to the Institute and the main programmatic areas of Total Worker Health; Exposure Biology (Role of Genome Instability in Human Disease); Injury, Treatment , Recovery and Prevention; Sleep and Shiftwork (Impact on Health and Safety).

Dr. Lloyd amplified on the Institute’s research on skin and liver cancers, and leukemia, and on obesity and the metabolic syndrome.  He explained how basic research can lead to prevention in the workforce and their families.  Dr. Anger expanded on Total Worker Health: Safety, health and well-being – and described the intervention strategies employed in the Institute’s applied research that have led to improved views of workers, safer workplaces for victims of abuse, improved confidence to de-escalate situations when confronted by sexual harassment, and clinically significant reduced weight in a sedentary workforce.  Toolkits are available for some of the Institute’s interventions.  The Institute’s outreach and education were also described.

The WCD will visit the Institute at OHSU to make a complementary presentation to the faculty to describe their findings and priorities later in the year.