Laura White
Profiles

Laura F White, PhD

Professor, Biostatistics - Boston University School of Public Health

lfwhite@bu.edu

Biography

Laura Forsberg White, PhD, is a Professor of Biostatistics at Boston University and co-director of the graduate program in Biostatistics. She is the associate director of the Population Health Data Science Program and directs the Data Science and Surveillance Core of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases. Her research focuses on developing statistical tools to better understand the transmission dynamics and epidemiology of infectious diseases and substance use disorders. This includes the development of novel methodologies for the detection of disease outbreaks, as well as the application statistical methods for public health surveillance systems, including spatial statistics and time series. Dr. White's work includes applications and collaborations in Tuberculosis, Hepatitis C, HIV, and substance use disorders. She works with several large international studies focused on Tuberculosis, is part of the Boston Providence Center for AIDS Research, and a CDC CFA-funded Center of Excellence. She leads her own research group focused on developing statistical methods to better understand TB transmission and burden, as well as Covid-19 transmission dynamics. At SPH, she teaches Public Health Surveillance: A Methods Based Approach (BS 728).

Education

  • Harvard University, PhD Field of Study: Biostatistics
  • Harvard School of Public Health, SM Field of Study: Biostatistics
  • Utah State University, BS Field of Study: Mathematics/Statistics

Classes Taught

  • SPHBS728

Publications

  • Published on 8/29/2025

    Niemand N, Rooney JA, Malatesta S, Rawoot N, Bouton TC, Ragan EJ, Carney T, White LF, Farhat M, Horsburgh CR, Myers B, Warren RM, Jacobson KR. Contamination rates in serially sampled sputum specimens obtained during tuberculosis treatment to capture culture conversion. Microbiol Spectr. 2025 Oct 07; 13(10):e0096925. PMID: 40879468.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 8/1/2025

    Tzelios CA, Malatesta S, Carney T, White LF, Weber SE, Thomson S, Theron D, Myers B, Parry CDH, Warren RM, Horsburgh CR, Farhat MR, Jacobson KR. Patient Determinants and Effects on Adherence of Adverse Drug Reactions to Tuberculosis Treatment: A Prospective Cohort Analysis. Clin Infect Dis. 2025 Aug 01; 81(1):167-175. PMID: 39973802.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 6/13/2025

    Horsburgh CR, E Jenkins H, Martinez L, White LF. Data-driven targets for reducing the global burden of TB. IJTLD Open. 2025 Jun; 2(6):352-358. PMID: 40530384.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 6/11/2025

    Campbell JI, Garing A, Lavache D, Bahad S, Hofman M, Haberer JE, Brooks MB, Sinha P, White LF, Sabharwal V, Tschampl CA, Horsburgh CR, Jenkins HE, Jacobson KR. Social Vulnerability Modifies the Effects of Geographic Proximity on Engagement in Latent Tuberculosis Infection Care in a United States Safety Net Healthcare Network. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2025 Jul; 12(7):ofaf347. PMID: 40606058.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 6/2/2025

    Zwick H, O'Dea R, Barocas JA, Flam-Ross JM, Chatterjee A, Walley AY, Harris RA, Schackman BR, White LF, Chrysanthopoulou SA, Assoumou SA, Murphy SM, Morgan JR, Baptiste D, Carroll M, Linas BP. Health and Economic Outcomes of Addressing Encampments of Individuals Using Opioids. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Jun 02; 8(6):e2517095. PMID: 40577017.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 5/30/2025

    Tabackman A, Gupte AN, Thangakunam B, Babu SP, Du X, Paradkar M, Shivakumar SVBY, Gaikwad S, Ezhumalai K, Ponnuraja C, Cox S, Gupte N, Tornheim JA, Dauphinais MR, Gupta A, Christopher DJ, Kornfeld H, Mave V, Viswanathan V, Ellner JJ, White LF, Padmapriyadarsini C, Sinha P, Sarkar S. Impact of premorbid nutritional status on TB severity. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2025 May 30; 29(6):265-270. PMID: 40495301.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 4/20/2025

    Thomson SJ, Mistry R, Bayly H, Overbeck V, Sagar M, Schechter-Perkins EM, White LF, Jacobson KR, Bouton TC. Barriers to recruitment of an observational SARS-CoV-2 emergency department cohort at Boston Medical Center. BMC Emerg Med. 2025 Apr 20; 25(1):68. PMID: 40254607.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 4/1/2025

    Jurecka C, Cavana E, Zhang Y, Erdman EA, Aytha Swathi P, Barocas JA, White LF. Rethinking Vulnerability: Using Factor Analysis to Assess Census Tract-Level Vulnerability. Public Health Rep. 2025 Apr 01; 333549251313986. PMID: 40166917.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 3/30/2025

    Yuan L, Stoddard M, Sarkar S, Egeren DV, Mangalaganesh S, Nolan RP, Rogers MS, Hather G, White LF, Chakravarty A. The Impact of Vaccination Frequency on COVID-19 Public Health Outcomes: A Model-Based Analysis. Vaccines (Basel). 2025 Mar 30; 13(4). PMID: 40333247.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 3/27/2025

    Madushani RWMA, Wang J, Weitz M, Linas BP, White LF, Chrysanthopoulou SA. Empirical calibration of a simulation model of opioid use disorder. PLoS One. 2025; 20(3):e0310763. PMID: 40146669.

    Read At: PubMed

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