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Expertise: Musculoskeletal disorders in automobile manufacturing; work-relatedness of musculoskeletal disorders; socioeconomic and gender disparities in working conditions and health work with video display units; ergonomic exposures in construction and other "non-routinized" work; definitions of MSD endpoints; surveillance and under-reporting self-selection out of the workforce; and the healthy worker effect
Educational Background
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Center for Ergonomics & Department of Environmental and Industrial Health, University of Michigan, 1985-87
Sc.D., Occupational Health; Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 1985
M.Sc., Occupational Health and Safety, Harvard School of Public Health, 1982
B.A. Hampshire College (Medical Social Science/Issues in Women's Health), 1976
Bio Sketch
Dr. Punnett is an occupational epidemiologist and ergonomist. Her research interests include the epidemiology of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (e.g., carpal tunnel syndrome and low back pain); the effect of ergonomic stressors on other health endpoints, such as pregnancy outcomes and acute injury risk; and methods for workplace measurement of ergonomic exposures, including the validity of worker self-assessments. She also has studied the factors influencing the effectiveness of ergonomic intervention programs and joint labor/management health and safety committees in industry.
Dr. Punnett's research has included collaboration with colleagues at Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, the Institute for Workers’ Health (Toronto, Canada), the University of Laval (Québec, Canada), and the Swedish National Institute for Working Life. In 1996-97 she was a vsiting scientist in the Division of Ergonomics, Swedish National Institute of Working Life. In 2002-03 she held an Intergovernmental Personnel Assignment to the Industry-wide Studies Branch of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. She is also a visiting lecturer in occupational health at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Punnett has consulted to the World Health Organization, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In 1999, she participated in the development of the proposal for a Hand Activity Level TLV® by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. She serves on the advisory boards for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Occupational Disease Surveillance (SENSOR) Project, the Ergonomics Technology Center of the University of Connecticut, and several research review panels for NIOSH. Dr. Punnett is also on the editorial boards of four scientific journals: Applied Ergonomics; New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy; Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and Salud de los Trabajadores (Workers’ Health, published in Venezuela). Currently she is secretary of the Committee on Musculoskeletal Disorders of the International Commission on Occupational Health.