UMass Lowell Image

Suzanne Nobrega, Ph.D.

Center Co-Director, Outreach Director

Pronouns
She/her
College
Francis College of Engineering
Department
Biomedical Engineering, Center for Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace
Phone
978-934-4640
Office
Falmouth 305F
Email
Suzanne_Nobrega@uml.edu
Links

Expertise

Occupational health, Health promotion, Research and evaluation, Education and training

Research Interests

Workplace Health, Job Stress, Total Worker Health, Professional Education, Research Translation

Education

  • Ph.D.: Research and Evaluation in Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • M.S.: Human Nutrition and Health Communications, Cornell University
  • B.S.: Nutritional Science, University of Delaware

Biosketch

Suzanne Nobrega, Ph.D. is Associate Center Director and Outreach Director for the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace (CPH-NEW). She is Principal Investigator of the "Total Worker Health r2p Hub" project. In this role, she oversees research translation and professional education activities to promote adoption of Total Worker Health practices.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • 2023 Outstanding Dissertation Award: Perspectives of Occupational Safety and Health Professionals on Total Worker Health® Competencies
  • 2017 Eusebio Rial-Gonzalez Innovation & Practice Award in Occupational Health Psychology

Selected Publications

  • Nobrega, S., Zhang, Y., Hendrickson Lohmeier, J., & Cavallari, J. M. (2024). Development and psychometric evaluation of a Total Worker Health® practice scale. Annals of work exposures and health, 68(5), 466–475. https://doi.org/10.1093/annweh/wxae030
  • Nobrega S, Zhang Y. Let’s Learn Together! A Mixed-Methods Study to Assess Readiness for Interprofessional Education on Total Worker Health® Practice. Workplace Health & Safety. 2024;72(6):223-233. doi:10.1177/21650799231217320
  • Nobrega, S., Edwards, K., El Ghaziri, M., Giacobbe, L., Rice, S., Punnett, L. A Protocol to Assess Contextual Factors During Program Impact Evaluation: A Case Study of a STEM Gender Equity Intervention in Higher Education. American Journal of Evaluation, doi:10982140231152281
  • Nobrega, S., El Ghaziri, M., Giacobbe, L., Rice, S., Punnett, L., Edwards K. Feasibility of virtual focus groups in program impact evaluation. International journal of qualitative methods 20, doi:16069211019896
  • Nobrega, S., Morocho, C., Robertson, MM., Kurowski, A., Rice, S., Henning, RA., Punnett, L. A mixed-method approach to tailor the implementation of a participatory Total Worker Health® program. International Journal of Workplace Health Management 14(4) 409-425. doi:10.1108/IJWHM-01-2021-0004
  • Punnett, L., Nobrega, S., Zhang, Y. et al. (2020) Safety and Health through Integrated, Facilitated Teams (SHIFT): stepped-wedge protocol for prospective, mixed-methods evaluation of the Healthy Workplace Participatory Program. BMC Public Health 20, 1463.
  • Nobrega S, Kernan L, Plaku-Alakbarova B, Robertson MM, Warren N, Henning R, CPH-NEW Research Team. (2017) Field tests of a participatory ergonomics toolkit for Total Worker Health, Applied Ergonomics, 60, 366-379. doi:10.1016/j.
  • Nobrega, S., Champagne, N., Abreu, M., Goldstein-Gelb, M., Montano, M., Lopez, I., Arevalo, J., Bruce, S., Punnett, L. (2016) Obesity/Overweight and the Role of Working Conditions: A Qualitative, Participatory Investigation. Health Promotion Practice, 17(1), 127-136. doi: 10.1177/1524839915602439
  • Center for Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace. The Healthy Workplace Participatory Program Toolkit [internet]. University of MA Lowell; [cited 2020 Dec 1].
  • Nobrega S, Champagne NJ, Azaroff LS, Shetty K, Punnett L. (2010) Barriers to Workplace Stress Interventions in Employee Assistance Practice: EAP Perspectives. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health 25: 4, 282 - 295. doi:10.1080/15555240.2010.518491.
  • Jill Carter, Jean L. Wiecha, Karen E. Peterson, Suzanne Nobrega, Steven L. Gortmaker. (2007) Planet Health: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Teaching Middle School Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2nd edition. Champagne, IL. Human Kinetics.

Selected Presentations

  • 2024 – Nobrega, S, Henning, R, Robertson, MM, Punnett, L. Development, dissemination, and implementation evaluation of a Healthy Workplace Participatory Program toolkit. 16th Conference of the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology, Granada, Spain. June 5, 2024.
  • 2024 – Nobrega, S, Morocho, C, Zhang Y. Competencies Identified by Occupational Safety and Health Professionals for Leading Integrative Total Worker Health® Practices. Conference of the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology, Granada, Spain. June 5, 2024.
  • 2024 – Nobrega, S, Zhang, Y. Let’s learn together! Attitudes of occupational safety and health professionals about interprofessional education pedagogy in continuing education. 34th International Congress on Occupational Health, Marrakesh Morocco. April 30, 2024.
  • 2023 – Nobrega, S, Morocho, C, Zhang, Y, Cavallari, J. “Total Worker Health® Competency Among Multidisciplinary Occupational Safety and Health Professionals: A Survey Study to Guide Continuing Education.” Work, Stress, and Health Conference (virtual), November 10, 2023.
  • 2022 – Nobrega, S, Morocho, C, Rice, S, Kurowski, A, Punnett, L. “Are these interventions integrated? Challenges and strengths of evaluation using the Hierarchy-of-Controls applied to Total Worker Health®” 3rd International Total Worker Health Symposium, Bethesda MD. October 2022.