Paul Demers
Director, OCRC
Paul is the Director of the OCRC, as well as a Senior Scientist with Ontario Health and a Professor with the Occupational and Environmental Health Division of the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health. He has a PhD in Epidemiology and an MSc in Industrial Hygiene, both from the University of Washington in Seattle. Paul is internationally recognized for his expertise on the health effects of workplace exposures and has sat on many expert panels, including the International Agency for Research on Cancer working groups that evaluated carcinogens such as dusts and fibres, firefighting and formaldehyde. He has extensive research experience and accomplishments, including his past leadership of "CAREX Canada," a national workplace and environmental exposure program. Over his academic career he has held numerous research grants, supervised many graduate students and has published extensively.
Key Appointments
- Senior Scientist, Prevention, Screening & Cancer Control, Cancer Care Ontario
- Professor, University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Education:
- M.Sc. (Industrial Hygiene), University of Washington (1987)
- Ph.D. (Epidemiology), University of Washington (1991)
OCRC Projects
- Assessing new methods for measuring occupational exposure to flame retardants
- McIntyre Powder Study
- Mesothelioma: Epidemiology and Prognosis
- Applications of the Ontario Toxics Reduction Act for exposure surveillance
- Regional and sector-specific patterns of occupational and environmental exposures (TRA)
- Using the Ontario Toxics Reduction Act for targeted cancer-specific prevention strategies (TRA)
- Leveraging environmental reporting databases to assess occupational and environmental exposures
- Radon Survey of Workplaces in Ontario
- Diesel Engine Exhaust Exposure in the Ontario Construction Industry
- Occupational Cancer and Asbestosis among Asbestos-Exposed Workers in Ontario
- Investigating the Occupational Etiology of Prostate Cancer in Canadian Workers
- Lung cancer and chronic respiratory disease in the Ontario mining industry
- Diesel exhaust exposure in Ontario fire halls
- Asbestos exposure in schools
- Evaluation of prevention strategies for reducing the burden of cancer in the Ontario construction industry
- Exposure to antineoplastic drugs among Ontario’s healthcare settings
- The Occupational Disease Surveillance System (ODSS) for Ontario Workers
- Strengthening occupational carcinogen surveillance in Latin America and the Caribbean
- The Ontario Mining Exposure Database
- North American Pooled Project: pesticides, agricultural exposures, and cancer
- The Examination of Accepted Workplace Fatality Claims Within Ontario and Canada
- Occupational exposure limits for carcinogens in Ontario workplaces: Opportunities to prevent and control exposure
- Analysis of the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s MESU exposure database
- The Toronto lung cancer case-control study and SYNERGY project
- Wood dust and sinonasal cancer in Canada
- Shiftwork in Canadian industries: A probable cancer risk factor
- Occupational cancer surveillance using the 1991-2006 Canadian census mortality & cancer cohort
- Surveillance of occupational cancer risks through linkage of WSIB claims to the Ontario Cancer Registry
- The human and economic burden of occupational cancer in Canada
- Cross-Canada study of pesticides and select cancers: New analyses
- Ontario uranium miner cohort: Linkage with national mortality and cancer incidence files
- Women and minorities in occupational cancer research: An update
Publications
- Histopathologic Analysis of Lung Cancer Incidence Associated with Radon Exposure among Ontario Uranium Miners
- A new approach for detecting work-related disease risks: the Occupational Disease Surveillance System
- Adult Asthma among Workers in Ontario: Results from the Occupational Disease Surveillance System
- Breast cancer risk by occupation and industry in women and men: Results from the Occupational Disease Surveillance System (ODSS)
- Examining lung cancer risks across different industries and occupations in Ontario, Canada: the establishment of the Occupational Disease Surveillance System
- Industry and geographic patterns of use and emission of carcinogens in Ontario, Canada, 2011–2015
- OCRC Report: Assessment of diesel exhaust exposure in municipal fire halls in Ontario
- Prostate cancer surveillance by occupation and industry: the Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohort (CanCHEC)
- Lung cancer risk among bricklayers in a pooled analysis of case-control studies
- Effect modification of the association of cumulative exposure and cancer risk by intensity of exposure and time since exposure cessation: a flexible method applied to cigarette smoking and lung cancer in the SYNERGY Study
- Welding and lung cancer in a pooled analysis of case-control studies
- Lung cancer risk among bakers, pastry cooks and confectionary makers: the SYNERGY study
- Lung cancer risk among hairdressers: a pooled analysis of case-control studies conducted between 1985 and 2010
- Recent trends in the industrial use and emission of known and suspected carcinogens in Ontario, Canada
- Silica exposure in a mining exploration operation
- Prostate cancer in firefighting and police work: a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies
- Occupation and risk of prostate cancer in Canadian men: A case-control study across eight Canadian provinces
- The economic burden of lung cancer and mesothelioma due to occupational and para-occupational asbestos exposure
- Natural resource-based industries and prostate cancer risk in Northeastern Ontario: a case-control study
- Lung Cancer among Coal Miners, Ore Miners and Quarrymen – Smoking-Adjusted Risk Estimates from the Synergy Pooled Analysis of Case-Control Studies
- Identifying potential exposure reduction priorities using regional rankings based on emissions of known and suspected carcinogens to outdoor air in Canada
- Differences in the carcinogenic evaluation of glyphosate between the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
- IARC Monographs: 40 Years of Evaluating Carcinogenic Hazards to Humans
- Physical activity, physical fitness, and body composition of Canadian shift workers: data from the Canadian health measures survey cycles 1 and 2
- Characteristics of work-related fatal and hospitalized injuries not captured in workers’ compensation data
- The contribution of lifestyle, environment, genetics and chance to cancer risk in individuals and populations
- Antineoplastic Drug Contamination in the Urine of Canadian Workers
- Occupational exposure to magnetic fields and breast cancer among Canadian men
- Estimating Population Level Exposure
- Health-related interventions among night shift workers: a critical review of the literature
- Antineoplastic Drug Contamination on the Hands of Employees Working Throughout the Hospital Medication System
- A comparison of exposure assessment approaches: lung cancer and occupational asbestos exposure in a population-based case-control study
- Recent trends in published occupational cancer epidemiology research: results from a comprehensive review of the literature
- Exposures to multiple pesticides and the risk of Hodgkin lymphoma in Canadian men
- Antineoplastic drug contamination of surfaces throughout the hospital medication system in Canadian hospitals
- Multiple pesticide exposures and the risk of multiple myeloma in Canadian men
- Prevalence of exposure to solar radiation (UVR) on the job in Canada
- Shiftwork trends and risk of work injury among Canadian workers
- Cohorts and consortia conference: a summary report (Banff, Canada, June 17-19, 2009)
- Surveillance of mesothelioma and workers’ compensation in British Columbia, Canada
- Exposure to pesticides and metal contaminants of fertilizer among tree planters
- Occupational exposure to asbestos and ovarian cancer: a meta-analysis
- Priority issues in occupational cancer research: Ontario stakeholder perspectives
- Exposure to multiple pesticides and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in men from six Canadian provinces
