Knowledge Translation and ImPACT

My research and knowledge translation activities have illustrated that great impact applied public health research can have on civil society.  Early work with my collaborators contributed to the policy mandating the use of booster seats as well as to the development of a new booster seat.  Studies on playground injuries provided recommendations on the burden of these injuries, and provided reccomendations to the Toronto District School Board on the optimum surfacing materials for playgrounds.

More recently, I have worked with many municipalties  and engineering firms as an academic advisor and research consultant to provide a public health and equity perspective to the development of road safety plans and guides.  My work with the City of Guleph within the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Healthy Cities Initiative which included working with the Mayor and the Medical Officer of Health, led to knowledge mobilization events in the community to co-develop and evaluate interventions to create healthy urban spaces and promote safe and equitable mobility for everyone.

My research, funded by CIHR, examining trends in cycling, pedestrian and motor vehicle crashes and inequities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic (RECOVR project), involved several Canadian cities;  Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.  This work,  was widely disseminated to these cities, and have helped framed the importance of monitoring these trends when a significant event occurs interrupting mobility patterns, as well as highlighting the need to address the rising issue of cycling collisions, particularly non-traffic-related. 

My work on the safety effects of separated cycling infrastructure led to my being asked to provide expert testimony in the landmark successful charter challenge launched by the local cycling advocacy group Cycle Toronto and environmental law charity EcoJustice in 2025.   contributed to the decision to overturn the legislative removal of implemented cycling infrastructure. 

"There is also the compelling expert evidence of Dr. Rothman, whose conclusions are strongly supported by many studies that protected bike lanes are much safer than cyclists riding in mixed traffic, and that the removal of the target bike lanes and creation of more car lanes will lead to increases in collisions, injuries and fatalities.” Justice Schabas of the Ontario Supreme Court. Cycle Toronto et al. v. Attorney General of Ontario et al., 2025 ONSC 4397

My work with my collaborators also was instrumental in the highly politicized controversy around the Province of Ontario's removal of Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE). Our research, portraying the great effectiveness of ASE on reducing speeds, was referred to in multitudes of media reports.  I did media interviews, conducted webinars and coordinated with not-for-profits and professional organiation and co-wrote a newspaper op-ed ( (Speed cameras save lives. Do we really need more reasons to keep them? The Toronto Star, Oct 15 2025). I also presented testimony related to my research at Toronto City Council in Oct 2025.  This has led to the recent funding by CIHR of a large grant to look at the effectiveness of ASE on collisions with an equity lens.

Another area of my research which has been widely disseminated, is examining collision and volume data, in order to accurately calculate rates of injury. The research has revealed the deficiencies in accurate collision data as well as the insufficiencies in volume data to estimate who is at risk. This research has been disseminated across audiences, and has sparked discussions and initiatives around data linkage and alternative sources of data.