Dr. Peter Schnall Leaves UCI to Start the Healthy Work Campaign - "Biggest Transformation for American Work"

News provided by

Sep 13, 2022, 08:41 ET

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The acclaimed expert in the study of workplace stress will pivot his 40-year career to increase awareness about how chronic work stress creates mental and physical illness in workers to drive workplace policy changes.

Dr. Peter Schnall has announced his retirement as Professor of Medicine at the University of California at Irvine, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH). Dr. Schnall leaves his tenure at the university to serve full-time as the co-director of the Healthy Work Campaign.

A renowned leader in the study of work stress, Dr. Schnall has dedicated the past 40 years to studying workplace conditions that contribute to the development of hypertension among workers. In addition to being a well-recognized epidemiologist, he is also viewed as an advocate for increasing awareness about how sources of work stress creates mental and physical illness in workers.

Throughout his career, Dr. Schnall has collaborated with notable researchers and physicians that includes Dr. Robert Karasek, Dr. Töres Theorell, Dr. Thomas Pickering, Dr. Marnie Dobson, Dr. Paul A. Landsbergis, Dr. Ellen Rosskam, and many others.

The Healthy Work Campaign seeks to explain why the United States lags behind other high-income countries in addressing the effects of stress. The campaign drives initiatives to educate working people, employers, labor leaders, and journalists, on the effects of workplace stress.

Dr. Schnall's role at the Healthy Work Campaign utilizes his four decades in research to supervise major policy projects as well as create educational content. The campaign is focused on solving the crisis of workplace stress, it operates on the belief that healthy work is good for both workers and businesses.

The outreach being done today will equip workers and organizations with strategies for organizational changes that allow people to do their best work. The Healthy Work Campaign launched the scientifically validated Healthy Work Survey, a free online tool for working people, unions, businesses, and other organizations to assess workplace stressors. According to Dr. Schnall, "Among work stress researchers and advocates, this survey is considered a vital first step towards enabling changes to make work safer and healthier."

In addition to serving as the co-director of the Healthy Work Campaign, Dr. Schnall will continue his work as the founder and director of the Center for Social Epidemiology which is the creator of the healthywork.org. Speaking on the Healthy Work Campaign's mission, Dr. Schnall concludes, "This is the most important work of my life."

Ref: