Matthew S. Thiese, Ph.D., M.S.P.H.

Matthew S. Thiese, PhD, MSPH, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah’s Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, one of the 18 NIOSH-sponsored Education and Research Centers in the US. He earned his BS in Exercise and Sport Science (2001), MSPH in General Public Health (2003), and PhD in Occupational Injury Prevention (2008). Dr. Thiese’s dissertation focused on the predictive relationship on physical activity and the incidence of low back pain. This dissertation involved field measurements of workers’ on-the-job and leisure time physical activity. He has extensive experience in physical activity assessment, energy expenditure measurement, and observational research. Dr. Thiese’s primary areas of research interest are 1) transportation worker health and 2) musculoskeletal disorders. His research has included multiple field studies, including three large cohort studies and two large cross-sectional studies involving either transportation workers or musculoskeletal disorders. Dr. Thiese currently teaches three courses at the School of Medicine and is involved in multiple ongoing field research projects. Dr. Thiese has field experiences with measuring aerobic capacity and energy expenditures in both laboratory and occupational settings.

Research Statement

My research focuses on the overlap between a person’s job and their health. This includes everything from musculoskeletal disorders like Low Back Pain or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, to motor vehicle crashes, to cancer. I have has coauthored 67 articles, 31 practice guidelines and 5 book chapters. I direct the Occupational Injury Prevention program, mentoring 11 PhD and Masters students, and teaching 4 courses. I have extensive experience in transportation health and safety, including research analyzing relationships between driver health and subsequent crashes in a retrospective cohort of 50,000 drivers. I also have been part of multiple large prospective cohort studies evaluating relationships between musculoskeletal disorders and both job and personal factors.

Global Impact