Staff

Cathy Slavik

Cathy joined OCRC as a Research Student in 2014 while completing her Master’s of Public Health degree at the University of Toronto in the Occupational and Environmental Health stream. Her research interests include cancer prevention, risk communication and environmental and industrial pollutants. At OCRC she has worked on a variety of projects analyzing data from environmental emissions programs and evaluating exposure reduction policies. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Health Geography at McMaster University.

Chaojie (Daniel) Song

Chaojie (Daniel) Song received his master of science degree from the School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia in May 2013. He decided to pursue graduate studies in the field of occupational and environmental health after finishing an undergraduate degree in preventive medicine. He is interested in epidemiological study design, data management and analysis. Currently Daniel is working on a project estimating the burden of cancer in Canada attributable to occupational wood dust exposure.

Colin Berriault

Colin completed his MA in Human Development at Laurentian University, where he worked on a surveillance project focused on tellurium exposure and garlic odour development in silver refinery workers. He extended his interest in occupational epidemiology to the field of cancer while studying cancer incidence and mortality among nickel and copper-zinc workers in three mining and refining cohort studies in the Sudbury and Timmins regions of Ontario. Colin brings his extensive knowledge of the mining industry to the OCRC, where he is working on several mining-related projects, including the Ontario uranium miners cohort.

Hunter Warden

Hunter holds an MSc in Epidemiology from Queen’s University. His thesis work involved a collaboration with l’Université de Montréal where he focused on occupational exposures to aromatic hydrocarbons and the risk of lung cancer. Before joining the OCRC, Hunter worked at the Environmental and Occupational Health department at Public Health Ontario where he supported the Environmental Burden of Disease project. Hunter’s current research includes the surveillance of non-malignant occupational diseases in Ontario using the Occupational Disease Surveillance System. Additionally, he is researching national and provincial determinants of mesothelioma to describe the trends of current incidence, survival, and future incidence.

Jill MacLeod

In 2012, Jill MacLeod completed her MPH in Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Jill was introduced to occupational health research during the co-op placements she completed as an undergraduate student while studying Economics and Political Science at the University of Ottawa. She worked on a project assessing the gaps in existing supports for Canadian nurses in the context of pandemics and on projects relating to workplace injuries and fatalities, with an emphasis on asbestos exposure and mesothelioma incidence. Jill has also conducted systematic reviews on topics ranging from the comparison of self-reports and direct measures of physical activity, hypertension and smoking, to the use of geriatric assessment tools in oncology clinics. At the OCRC, Jill previously completed a study comparing exposure classification methods for a lung cancer case control study. Jill is currently working on an occupational cancer surveillance project using the 1991-2006 Canadian census mortality and cancer cohort.

Joseph Okeme

Joseph has an MSc in Instrumental Analytical Sciences and a PhD in Physical and Environmental Sciences. Joseph’s research interests include developing inexpensive and easily used methods for measuring environmental exposures, environmental modelling, and human and ecosystem risk assessment. Joseph’s current research aims to use novel methods to advance our understanding of workplace exposure to chemical hazards such as flame retardants and how to prevent workers exposure.

Kate joined the OCRC after completing her Master's in chemistry at the University of Toronto. Her experience working in chemistry laboratories and in the pharmaceutical industry led to her interest in workplace exposures and health. Her background gives her a strong understanding of chemical exposures, their properties, and interactions. At the OCRC, Kate is working on analyzing historical exposure to nickel in Ontario industries using a database of exposure measurements collected by the Ministry of Labour.

Lily Yang

During her Bachelor’s degree in Science, Lily worked at a laboratory performing bacteriological water analysis. This sparked her interest in environmental public health and led her to pursue a Master of Public Health at Queen’s University. Her final practicum involved creating a radon testing program for childcare centres at a local health unit. She is currently working on OCRC's radon survey of workplaces in Ontario and with the Occupational Disease Surveillance System team.

Mamadou Dakouo

Mamadou holds an MSc in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Before joining OCRC in March 2018, he worked as Principal Statistician for clinical trials in Dermatology, as an Epidemiologist for a study on HIV therapy and as a Research Data Analyst for a general surgery. His current research focuses on implementing statistical analysis methods used for conducting occupational disease surveillance.

Manisha Pahwa was OCRC’s first student. She completed her M.P.H. major project at the Centre, examining occupational pesticide exposure and cancer risk. Manisha recently received the 2010-2011 Ontario Student Opportunity Trust Fund Institute for Work and Health (IWH) Graduate Fellowship to help support her graduate studies. Manisha spent a year and a half developing occupational cancer policies and programs as part of the workers’ health team at the Pan American Health Organization/Americas Regional Office of the World Health Organization in 2008/2009. It was this experience that inspired her interest in under-researched populations, as she aims to address the adage ‘no data, no problem’ by conducting research that meets workers’ health needs in the workplace and at the policy level in the future.

Mehathie Sivakumaran

Mehathie holds a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Neuroscience and Psychology, a Graduate Certificate in Workplace Wellness and Health Promotion and a Master of Public Health degree specializing in Social and Behavioural Health Sciences from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. With interests in chronic disease prevention, health promotion, knowledge translation and workplace health, she joined the OCRC as a Knowledge Translation and Exchange Specialist.

Marjorie Pagcu

Marjorie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with a major in Accounting, and a Bachelor's degree in Nursing. She has over 10 years of experience in administration, financial planning and project coordination and management. In addition to coordinating and planning the organization of workshops, conferences and research events, Marjorie plays a key role in maintaining clear communication between the Centre and its partners. She is passionate about occupational cancer research and is honored to use her exceptional accounting skills to support the efforts of OCRC in establishing cancer-free workplaces.

Sheila Kalenge

Sheila joined OCRC after completing her Master’s degree in occupational and environmental hygiene at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. While at UBC, she completed projects on exposure assessments, risk assessments, and hazard identification and analysis. She is currently working on a variety of exposure assessment projects at OCRC looking at asbestos exposure, diesel exhaust exposure, antineoplastic drugs exposure and other contaminants.

Tammy joined the OCRC as a research clerk. She is working on a project about the nail industry that has been conducting to measure the hazards and chemicals in the nail salons across GTA.