Laura White
Profiles

Laura F White, PhD

Adjunct Professor, Biostatistics - Boston University School of Public Health

617-358-2519
lfwhite@bu.edu
Crosstown Center - 312
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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/ScM Field of Study: Biostatistics
  • Utah State University, BS Field of Study: Mathematics

Websites

Classes Taught

  • SPHBS728

Publications

  • Published on 5/14/2026

    Brown TS, Nelson K, Kissler S, Martinez L, Horsburgh CR, White LF, Mathema B, Jacobson KR. Understanding and exploiting superspreading to disrupt Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission. Lancet Infect Dis. 2026 May 14. PMID: 42134384.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 5/4/2026

    Gallini J, Singh UB, Dauphinais M, Sarkar S, Carwile M, Kumar R, Rao R, Chaudhary A, McQuaid CF, Maloomian K, Sinha S, Mehta S, Dowdy DW, Liu AF, Linas BP, Horsburgh CR, White LF, Sinha P. Cost-effectiveness of in-kind nutritional support for impoverished persons with tuberculosis to reduce mortality and disengagement from care in India: a modelling study. BMJ Glob Health. 2026 May 04; 11(5). PMID: 42082204.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 2/11/2026

    Thomson S, Overbeck V, Theron D, Botha B, Malatesta S, Bouton TC, Niemand Wolhuter N, Ratangee F, Campbell JI, Cesare N, Kulkarni Goodwin S, Meade CS, Horsburgh CR, White LF, Myers B, Warren RM, Carney T, Jacobson KR. Linkage to TB and HIV care for persons who smoke illicit drugs: a prospective cohort study. IJTLD Open. 2026 Feb; 3(2):91-96. PMID: 41847680.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 2/5/2026

    Rader B, Astley CM, White LF, Brownstein JS, Fox MP. Heterogeneous impact of mask mandates on U.S. masking behavior: an interrupted time series study. Am J Epidemiol. 2026 Feb 05; 195(2):488-496. PMID: 41121729.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 12/14/2025

    Chrysanthopoulou SA, Wang J, Nolen S, Madushani ARWM, Murphy SM, Linas BP, White LF. Modeling Recurrent Events: A Tutorial Based on Relapse and Remitting Episodes during Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder. Med Decis Making. 2026 Apr; 46(3):296-309. PMID: 41392532.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 12/5/2025

    Shapiro AN, Mohammed S, Horsburgh CR, Jenkins HE, White LF. Adapting Back-calculation Methods to Estimate the Incidence of Tuberculosis. Epidemiology. 2026 Mar 01; 37(2):220-227. PMID: 41481913.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 11/27/2025

    Malatesta S, Jacobson KR, Horsburgh CR, Farhat M, Carney T, Gile KJ, Kolaczyk ED, White LF. An Integrated Data-Driven Model for Clinical Phenotyping of Tuberculosis Disease Severity. medRxiv. 2025 Nov 27. PMID: 41358303.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 11/19/2025

    Shapiro AN, Brooks MB, Huang CC, Murray MB, White LF, Jenkins HE. Network Analysis of Pairwise Relative Tuberculosis Transmission Probabilities in Lima, Peru. medRxiv. 2025 Nov 19. PMID: 41332852.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 10/24/2025

    Wijk M, Denti P, Gausi K, Myers B, Carney T, White LF, Theron D, Parry CDH, Horsburgh CR, Rawoot N, Warren RM, Court R, Kulkarni SG, Farhat MR, Buys C, Malatesta S, Weber SE, Kulkarni S, McIlleron H, Jacobson KR, Kloprogge F. Insights into the Role of Rifampicin Exposure and Clinical Baseline Covariates on the Response to Pulmonary Tuberculosis Treatment. Clin Infect Dis. 2025 Oct 24. PMID: 41133922.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 10/8/2025

    Malatesta S, Carney T, Niemand Wolhuter N, Overbeck V, Theron D, Weber SE, Meade CS, Thomson S, Bouton TC, Farhat M, Myers B, Wood R, Ratangee F, Horsburgh CR, White LF, Warren RM, Jacobson KR. Tuberculosis Disease Prevalence Among People Who Smoke Illicit Drugs: A Respondent- Driven Sampling Study in the Western Cape, South Africa. J Infect Dis. 2025 Oct 08. PMID: 41060285.

     Read At: PubMed

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