France Labrèche

France Labrèche is a Clinical Professor at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, University of Montreal. She is also a researcher at the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST). Her primary research focuses on occupational and environmental exposures linked to cancer, particularly breast cancer in postmenopausal women and carcinogenic risks in workers such as aluminum industry employees and asbestos-exposed workers. She utilizes exposure databases and job-exposure matrices to identify high-risk populations. She explores emerging areas like climate change impacts on worker health and occupational hazards in green technologies.

Key projects include assessing carcinogen exposure among young workers, comparative analysis of exposure databases (IMIS vs. LIMS), and prevention initiatives targeting apprentices in semi-specialized trades. She has secured grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the IRSST. Her supervision includes three graduate students: Sabrina Gravel (Ph.D., 2020), Kahlila Paul-Cole (M.Sc., 2024), and Maymouna Myriam Ka (M.Sc., 2023).

Her work emphasizes practical applications, such as improving job-exposure matrices for sex-specific assessments and evaluating workplace mental health supports during the pandemic. She collaborates with interdisciplinary teams on topics like e-waste recycling risks, antineoplastic drug exposure in healthcare workers, and the epidemiology of shift work’s impact on cancer risks. Her research bridges occupational health, environmental science, and public policy, aiming to reduce preventable occupational diseases.