Laura Forsberg White, PhD
Professor
Boston University School of Public Health
Biostatistics

PhD, Harvard University
SM, Harvard School of Public Health



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).

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

I chair our admissions committee and have participating in holistic admissions workshops. We have modified our processes to be more holistic and also to improve our outreach and support of students from historically underrepresented groups. I have participated in trainings on implicit bias and other topics related to DEIJ.


Researching Effective Strategies to Prevent Opioid Death (RESPOND)
09/15/2023 - 07/31/2028 (Multi-PI)
PI: Laura Forsberg White, PhD
Boston Medical Center Corporation NIH NIDA
5R01DA046527-08

Adapting backcalculation methods to estimate the incidence and infectiousness distributions of tuberculosis
12/01/2024 - 11/30/2026 (Key Person / Mentor)
NIH/National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases
1F31AI183782-01A1

Jie He Vertex Fellowship
08/01/2025 - 08/31/2026 (PI)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated


BUSPH Interdisciplinary Training Program for Biostatisticians
07/01/2021 - 06/30/2026 (Multi-PI)
PI: Laura Forsberg White, PhD
NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences
5T32GM140972-05

Maximizing Investigator's Research Award (R35)
06/01/2021 - 05/31/2026 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences
5R35GM141821-05

Epistorm: Center for Advanced Epidemic Analytics and Predictive Modeling Technology
09/30/2023 - 09/29/2025 (Multi-PI)
PI: Laura Forsberg White, PhD
Northeastern University HHS CDC


Vertex Student Fellowship - Luke Zheng
09/01/2024 - 08/31/2025 (PI)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated


Vertex Fellowship for Jiaying Chen
09/01/2023 - 12/31/2024 (PI)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated


Vertex Fellowship for Yuyan Liu
02/01/2024 - 06/16/2024 (PI)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated


Vertex Fellowship for Shiyao Li
09/01/2023 - 05/31/2024 (PI)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated


Showing 10 of 23 results. Show All Results


Title


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs
2025 BUSPH Interdisciplinary Training Program for Biostatisticians 5T32GM140972-05
2025 Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (R35) 5R35GM141821-05
2024 BUSPH Interdisciplinary Training Program for Biostatisticians 5T32GM140972-04
2024 Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (R35) 5R35GM141821-04
2023 BUSPH Interdisciplinary Training Program for Biostatisticians 5T32GM140972-03
2023 Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (R35) 5R35GM141821-03
2022 BUSPH Interdisciplinary Training Program for Biostatisticians 5T32GM140972-02
2022 Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (R35) 5R35GM141821-02
2021 BUSPH Interdisciplinary Training Program for Biostatisticians 1T32GM140972-01
2021 Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (R35) 1R35GM141821-01
Showing 10 of 18 results. Show All Results

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Website       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. 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 Aug 29; e0096925.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40879468; DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00969-25;
     
  2. 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.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39973802; PMCID: PMC12314496; DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciae642;
     
  3. 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.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40530384; PMCID: PMC12168725; DOI: 10.5588/ijtldopen.25.0014;
     
  4. 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.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40606058; PMCID: PMC12216903; DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf347;
     
  5. 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.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40577017; PMCID: PMC12205401; DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.17095;
     
  6. 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.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40495301; DOI: 10.5588/ijtld.24.0592;
     
  7. 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.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40254607; PMCID: PMC12010546; DOI: 10.1186/s12873-025-01224-w;
     
  8. 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.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40166917; PMCID: PMC11962935; DOI: 10.1177/00333549251313986;
     
  9. 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; PMCID: PMC12031506; DOI: 10.3390/vaccines13040368;
     
  10. 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.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40146669; PMCID: PMC11949371; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310763;
     
Showing 10 of 195 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 195 publications over 24 distinct years, with a maximum of 24 publications in 2021

YearPublications
19931
20032
20042
20052
20061
20072
20084
20097
20101
20116
20128
20139
20145
20157
201612
201713
20187
201912
202013
202124
202217
202314
202415
202511


We’re still living with the legacy of COVID

Boston Globe 3/11/2025

A Bellwether for COVID-19

Harvard Medical School 6/8/2022

Projected Long-Term Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Outcomes Associated With Hepatitis C Virus

Infection Disease Advisor 10/7/2021

Nahid Bhadelia to Head New BU Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy and Research

BU Today 5/18/2021

Population Density Does Not Doom Cities to Pandemic Dangers

Scientific American 9/16/2020
In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

Biostatistics
Infectious Diseases
infectious Disease Epidemiology
Public Health Surveillance
Tuberculosis
Substance Use Disorders
SARS-CoV-2

I am an experienced mentor of clinical fellows, postdoctoral fellows, PhD students and masters students. I work collaboratively with clinician scientists and provide expertise in statistical modeling, design of studies, and interpretation and dissemination of results. I am committed to meeting mentees where they are and helping them accomplish their personal goals and work through obstacles that they face in their career. I am passionate about seeing the whole person and recognizing the need to strive for appropriate work/life balance.

Available to Mentor as: (Review Mentor Role Definitions):
  • Advisor
  • Career Mentor
  • Co-Mentor or Peer Mentor
  • Education Mentor
  • Project Mentor
  • Research / Scholarly Mentor
  • Work / Life Integration Mentor
Contact for Mentoring:
  • Email (see 'Contact Info')

801 Massachusetts Ave Crosstown Center
Boston MA 02118
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617.358.2519
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