Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Faculty Member

Aviroop Biswas PhD

Research Interests

• Workplace policies, programs, and practices to promote worker health and wellbeing.
• Sex/gender and socioeconomic differences in worker health and wellbeing.
• Examining the complex interplay between work-related and non-work-related factors on worker health.
• The analyses of population surveys, administrative data, and wearable device data.
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Other Affiliations

Scientist, Institute for Work & Health

Updated details of my research projects and interests: https://www.iwh.on.ca/people/aviroop-biswas

Education & Training History

• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Work and Health – Institute for Work & Health
• PhD., Health Services Research (Outcomes & Evaluation) – Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto
• BSc., Biology – Western University
• BSc., Cell Biology – McGill University

Honours & Awards

• 2015 Most Influential Publication (Rank #2) – American Heart Association Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health.
• Altmetric Top 100 Research Articles of 2015 (#41)
• Ted Goldberg Award for Academic Excellence and Promise in Health Services Research, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto.

Current Research Projects

Biswas A (Principal Investigator), Mustard CA, Smith P, Prince-Ware, SA. How much movement do workers need to be healthy? Understanding work-related and non-work contributions to the movement patterns of Canadian workers and their cardiometabolic consequences. Funded by CIHR Fall Project Grant. Completed.

Biswas A (Principal Investigator), Smith P, Gignac MA, Van Eerd D. Developing recommendations for workplaces to implement an integrated health protection and health promotion approach. Funded by Alberta Labour. Completed.

Biswas A (Principal Investigator), Smith P, Irvin E. Workplace hazard exposure, injuries and illness: What difference do sex and gender make? Funded by WorkSafeBC. Completed.

Mustard CA, Biswas A (Co-Investigator), Smith P. Improving information on worker health protection in Ontario. Funded by the Ontario Ministry of Labour Research Opportunities Program. Completed.

Selected Publications

Biswas A, Begum M, Van Eerd D, Smith PA, Gignac MAM (2020). Organizational perspectives on how to successfully integrate health promotion activities into occupational health and safety. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. JOM.0000000000002087.

Biswas A, Gilbert-Ouimet M, Mustard CA, Glazier RH, Smith PM (2020). Combined associations of work and leisure time physical activity on incident diabetes risk. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. j.amepre.2020.09.017.

Biswas A, Dobson KG, Gignac MAM, de Oliveira C, Smith PM (2020). Changes in work factors and concurrent changes in leisure time physical activity: a 12-year longitudinal analysis. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 10.1136/oemed-2019-106158.

Biswas A, Severin C, Smith PM, Steenstra I, Robson LS, Amick III BC (2018). Larger workplaces, people-oriented culture, and specific industry sectors associated with co-occurring health protection and wellness activities. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 15(12): 2739.

Biswas A, Smith PM, Gignac MA (2018). Naturally-occurring facilities at or near work to increase the leisure time physical activity of workers: a propensity-score weighted population study. Preventive Medicine Reports 10: 263-270.

Biswas A, Smith PM, Alter DA (2018). Is promoting 6 hours of standing an appropriate public health message? European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. 25(7):751-752.

Biswas A, Smith PM, Gignac MA (2017). Access to showers and change rooms at work associated with active commuting among older workers: findings from a national population survey. Journal of Applied Gerontology. 1:733464818755313.

Biswas A, Faulkner GE, Oh PI, Alter DA (2017). Patient and practitioner perspectives on reducing sedentary behaviour at an exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation program. Disability and Rehabilitation. 40(19): 2267-2274.

Biswas A, Oh PI, Faulkner GE, Bonsignore A, Pakosh MT, Alter DA (2017). The energy expenditure benefits of reallocating sedentary time with physical activity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Public Health. 40(2): 295 – 303.

Biswas A, Oh PI, Faulkner GE, Alter DA (2016). Baseline risk has greater influence over behavioral attrition on the real-world clinical effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 79(e1): 55-61.

Biswas A, Oh PI, Faulkner G, Bajaj RR, Silver MA, Mitchell MS, Alter DA (2015). Sedentary time and its independent risk on disease incidence, mortality and hospitalization in adults: a meta-analysis. Annals of Internal Medicine. 163(2): 123