OccHealthSci December 2025 Newsletter
- Shaun McGillis
- Dec 3
- 4 min read
The latest news, updates, and events from OccHealthSci
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Recovery Friendly Workplace series
Employer Forum: Recovery Friendly Workplace in Action
Thursday, January 15, 2026 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. University of Oregon, Portland Get your tickets today!
Join us for an insightful and interactive event focused on creating supportive environments for individuals in recovery. The term "Recovery Friendly Workplace" describes employers that take proactive steps to prevent and respond to substance misuse, foster workplace-supported recovery, and strengthen opportunities for individuals in recovery while supporting all those affected by substance use disorders. At this in-person forum, participants will:
Define what it means to be a Recovery Friendly Workplace
Learn about practical tools and resources to guide workplace implementation
Explore case studies showcasing successful programs, policies, and practices that employers can adapt to take immediate steps toward becoming recovery friendly.
Continuing education credits through SHRM and Credentialing Public Health (CPH) Professionals and Certified Safety Professionals (CSP)
Professional development
Oregon Total Worker Health® Alliance share and connect
Tuesday, December 9, 2025 In-person meeting 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Learn more and reserve your seat
Welcome to the Oregon Total Worker Health (TWH) Alliance Share and Connect event! This free, in-person network event will be a great opportunity to meet and collaborate with others who share your passion for workers' health, safety, and well-being. Participants can expect to discuss real-world implementation examples, share lessons learned, and new resources that can strengthen the growing network and community of TWH practitioners in Oregon and Washington. Don't miss out on this chance to connect with like-minded individuals and gain valuable insights into the practical world of TWH.
Total Worker Health® Solutions for Construction
Tuesday, February 24, 2026 Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront, Portland, OR Construction Mental Health & Wellbeing Conference Reserve your seat today
Drawing on lessons from construction and other industries, this workshop explores how the Total Worker Health® (TWH) approach helps leaders and managers adopt integrated strategies to protect workers from harm while advancing mental well-being. Participants will examine root causes of poor working conditions, identify gaps in traditional health and safety practices, and learn how to apply TWH principles to create safer, healthier, and more resilient workplaces in construction.
Participants will be able to:
Define Total Worker Health and explain how it addresses root causes of poor working conditions while supporting mental well-being
Demonstrate why TWH is needed and describe its benefits for employers, crew members, managers, and public owners
Identify gaps in current health and safety management practices and explore strategies to integrate TWH into existing systems
Highlight successful strategies based on TWH principles that can be applied in the construction industry
OccHealthSci Sponsored Programs
Oregon Healthy Workforce Center
The Oregon Healthy Workforce Center congratulates faculty and affiliate faculty members Leslie Hammer, Cynthia Morh and their co-authors whose paper “Supportive-leadership training to improve social connection: A cluster randomized trial demonstrating efficacy in a high-risk occupational context,” published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology was runner up in the voting for best paper for 2023/24. The paper presented a study that evaluated the efficacy of an evidence-based supportive-leadership training intervention targeting active-duty U.S. Army platoon leaders and targeting both proactive support behaviors that help bolster employee social connection and responsive support behaviors, including destigmatizing mental health.
If you’d like to learn more about the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center’s research, education and outreach, check out our recently published 2025 Annual Report.
Occupational Public Health & OR-FACE Programs
The Oregon Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (OR-FACE) Program recently published a hazard alert on heat illness. The hazard alert tells real stories about some of the incidents that have occurred in Oregon workplaces since 2013. The hazard alert also provides prevention recommendations (safety tips) to help prevent heat illness.
Learn more about OR-FACE, including our fatality investigations and toolbox talks, by visiting our website. To download and receive new publications including investigative reports and other OR-FACE publications, please join our mailing list.
OccHealthSci Research, Blog and Events
Stay up to date on the latest basic, clinical, and applied research at OccHealthSci, and learn about our partnerships and community engagement at the Oregon and the Workplace blog.
Research briefs
Going to bed at the same time every night could lower blood pressure
New research from OccHealthSci demonstrates that maintaining a consistent bedtime may significantly reduce blood pressure in people with hypertension. The intervention required no changes to sleep duration or medication—just consistency. While this was a small proof-of-concept study, the findings suggest bedtime regularization could serve as a low-cost, low-risk complement to existing hypertension treatments. Read more about this work.
In the field: Photosensitivity as a link between Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and chronic pain after Traumatic Brain Injury.
Researchers at OccHealthSci and OHSU are investigating whether light sensitivity links traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and chronic pain in US Veterans. The Department of Defense-funded study aims to determine if Veterans with TBI and PTSD are hypersensitive to light and whether this photosensitivity predicts chronic pain. The current study involves two phases: measuring Veterans' light sensitivity, pressure sensitivity, and completing quality-of-life surveys, followed by brain imaging to examine how the brain responds to light. By identifying photosensitivity as a potential biomarker, this research could inform new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for TBI, PTSD, and chronic pain. Learn more about this study.
Cigarette smoking disrupts daily rest-activity patterns more than cannabis use
OccHealthSci researchers analyzed data from over 5,000 US adults revealing that cigarette smoking disrupts rest-activity rhythms more significantly than cannabis use. Rest-activity rhythms reflect the health of your circadian system—stable patterns of daytime activity and nighttime rest indicate proper internal clock function. The study found that smokers had less predictable day-to-day activity patterns and weaker differences between daytime and nighttime activity levels, both signs of unhealthy rhythms. Learn more about this study.
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