Sharon Toker

Sharon Toker is an Associate Professor and the head of the Healthcare Management program at Tel Aviv University’s Coller School of Management.

She graduated from Tel Aviv University, completing her B.A. in Psychology and Sociology (1997) and her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior with distinction (Accelerated Doctoral Program, 2007). In 2008 she completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University and soon after joined the Department of Organizational Behavior in Tel Aviv University’s Coller School of Management.

Prof. Toker served as the associate editor of the Academy of Management Perspectives Journal and the Occupational Health Science Journal. She has published more than 40 papers and book chapters and was awarded the Early Career Achievement Award by the American Psychological Association (APA) and the National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH) in 2013.

Sharon teaches Organizational Behavior and Stress Management courses, and was granted numerous teaching awards including the Tel-Aviv University Rector Award (2013), Tel-Aviv University best 100 lecturers awards, and the Coller School of Management teaching awards in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 & 2021.

In addition to her academic activity, Prof. Toker is an active advocate for employees' wellbeing. She is working with the Israeli Ministry of Health and with the Ministry of Law to reduce employees' burnout levels.

Last but not least, Sharon is also an illustrator, translating her research findings into visual images. Her illustrations appear in both academic and non-academic outlets. Instagram: sharon_toker

Fields of Research Prof. Toker’s research strives to discover the extent to which occupational and environmental factors, stress perceptions, and organizational resources affect the physical and mental wellbeing of employees. By combining various areas of knowledge such as occupational psychology, cognition, and medicine, in addition to conducting experimental as well as observational longitudinal studies among thousands of employees, she points to the risk involved in exposure to occupational and environmental stressors (including the fear of terrorism). She also strives to identify effective ways of coping with such risks. Her studies combine new models and constructs that are at the forefront of current psycho-occupational research (e.g., stress perceptions and mind wandering). As an expert in the field of work stress and health, Prof. Toker’s research serves as the basis for policy change on both national and international scales.

Focal topics of Prof. Toker’s research include:

• Stress, burnout, and employee health
• Stress theory, perception, and mindset
• Mind wandering at work
• Health promotion in organizations
• Gender inequality at work
• Organizational cynicism

Publications

How stressors, burnout & depression affect our health:

• Toker, S., & Melamed, S. (2017). Stress, Recovery, Sleep, and Burnout. In C. Cooper, & Campbell, J., C., (Ed.) The Handbook of Stress and Health: A Guide to Research and Practice, 168-185.‏
• Armon, G., Melamed, S & Toker, S. , Berliner, S., & Shapira, I. (2014). Joint effect of chronic medical illness and burnout on depressive symptoms among employed adults. Health Psychology, 33(3):264-272.
• Shirom, A., Toker, S., Melamed, S., Berliner, S. & Shapira, I. (2013). Burnout and Vigor as Predictors of the Incidence of Hyperlipidemia among Healthy Employees. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being. 5(1), 79-98.
  
• Toker, S., Gavish, I., & Biron, M. (2013). Job Demand-Control-Support and diabetes risk: The moderating role of self-efficacy. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. 22(6), 711-724.
• Zelber-Sagi, S*., Toker, S*. Armon, T., Melamed, S., Berliner, S., Shapira, I., Halpern, Z., Santo, E., & Shibolet, O. (2013). Elevated alanine transaminase independently predicts new onset of depression in employees undergoing health screening examinations. * Equal contribution. Psychological Medicine. 43(12), 2603-2613.
• Toker, S., Shirom, A., Melamed, S. & Armon, G. (2012). Work Characteristics as Predictors of Diabetes Incidence among Apparently Healthy Employees. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. 17(3), 259-267.
• Toker, S., Melamed, S., Shirom, A., Berliner, S., Zeltser, D. & Shapira, I. (2012) Burnout Is Associated with Coronary Heart Disease Incidence: A Prospective Study of 8,838 Employees. Psychosomatic Medicine, 74(8), 840-847.
• Shirom, A., Toker, S., Melamed, S. & Shapira, I. (2012). The relationships between self-rated health and serum lipids across time. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. 19(1), pp 73-81.
• Toker, S., Shirom, A., Shapira, I., Berliner, S., & Melamed, S. (2005). The association between burnout, depression, anxiety, and inflammation biomarkers: C-reactive protein and fibrinogen, in men and women. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 10, (4), 344-362.
• Melamed, S., Shirom, A., Toker, S., Berliner, S., & Shapira, I. (2006). Burnout and risk of cardiovascular disease: Evidence, possible causal paths, and promising research directions.
• Psychological Bulletin. 132(3), pp. 327-353.
• Toker, S., Shirom, A., & Melamed, S. (2008). Depression and the Metabolic Syndrome: Gender Dependent Associations. Depression and Anxiety. 25(8) pp. 661-669.
• Melamed, S., Shirom, A., Toker, S., & Shapira, I. (2006). Burnout and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Prospective Study of Apparently Healthy Employed Persons. Psychosomatic Medicine, 68, pp. 863-869.
• Shirom, A., Toker, S., Berliner, & S., Shapira, I., (2008). The Job Demand-Control-Support Model and Micro-inflammatory Responses among Healthy Male and Female Employees: A Longitudinal Study. Work & Stress 28(2), pp 661-669.