Stress in the workplace is at an all-time high. Factors including long work hours, heavy workloads, poor communications, and job insecurities all contribute to employee stress and increase the likelihood of workplace illness and injury. 

Researchers at the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences are dedicated to supporting worker health, safety, and well-being. Institute researchers study workplace culture, policies, and practices to understand how work impacts the health of employees. Our faculty includes internationally recognized organizational and occupational scholars whose research informs the development, evaluation, and application of evidence-based solutions that deliver wraparound support promoting worker health, including mental health, in Oregon and beyond.

Faculty labs

Nicole Bowles Lab
The Bowles Lab examines the roles of factors, including stress, health disparities, neuroendocrinology, circadian rhythms, sleep behavior, and cannabinoids on health and well-being. 

Leslie B. Hammer Lab 
Researchers in the Hammer Lab specialize in the effects of workplace conditions and the role of supportive supervision on occupational stress, mental health, and well-being. 

Emily (Yueng-hsiang) Huang Lab 
The Huang Safety Climate Lab focuses on improving the quality of life for individuals through building a healthy and safe workplace. The team achieves this through developing tools to assess and improve organizational culture and climate in ways that support workplace safety. 

David A. Hurtado Lab 
The Hurtado Lab conducts applied and epidemiological research on workplace and social determinants of health. Studies focus on the healthcare industry, high-risk marginalized workforces, and occupational health and safety issues. 

Steven A. Shea Lab 
The Shea Lab studies the biological basis behind changes in disease severity across day and night to uncover new insights into the underlying causes of disease and inform the development of therapies and countermeasures to reduce the adverse health effects of shift work. 

Saurabh Thosar Lab 
The Thosar Lab studies the effects of workplace behaviors and conditions, such as physical inactivity, circadian rhythms, and sleep and their impact on cardiometabolic health. 

Affiliated labs

Andrew McHill Lab 
The McHill Sleep, Chronobiology and Health Lab focuses on understanding why insufficient sleep and being awake during the night leads to poor health and impaired cognitive performance. The research team studies how eating during typical sleep hours influences energy expenditure, glucose metabolism, cardiovascular health, and overall body composition. 

Suzanne H. Mitchell Lab 
The Translational Neuroeconomics Lab studies how individuals evaluate the costs and benefits associated with obtaining outcomes or performing specific behaviors. Research in the lab focuses on studying the neural, genetic, and psychological processes governing how individuals choose between alternatives.

Ryan B. Olson Lab 
The Olson Lab is focused on safety and health interventions for workers who typically work alone and behaviors these workers can practice to promote safety and health at work. The goal of the research is to understand how organizations can best protect and promote health among workers who are physically isolated from peers.