Leslie I Boden, PhD
Professor
Boston University School of Public Health
Environmental Health

PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
BA, Brandeis University



Les Boden is an economist, and much of his research has focused on finding ways to highlight the economic and human consequences of injuries and illnesses and to identify ways of minimizing those consequences. Over the past several years, Dr. Boden has published studies measuring the income lost by injured workers, the adequacy of workers compensation benefits, and the the impact of work-related injuries on mortality. With BUSPH colleague Lee Strunin, he has also published several studies of the post-injury experiences of injured workers and their families. Most recently, he has published on the impact of occcupational injuries on opioid use disorder and mortality from drug overdose and suicide. Dr. Boden has also published the results of studies that estimate underreporting of workplace injuries. He has also written on occupational safety and health regulation, medical screening, gender- and race-based inequality, and the legal and public health use of scientific information. Since 2010, he has collaborated on studies of the health and safety of patient care workers as an investigator at the Center for Work, Health & Well-Being, a multi-institutional collaboration centered at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. From 1988 to 1997, Dr. Boden served on the Mine Health Research Advisory Committee of the Department of Health and Human Services, which he chaired for six years. In 2001-2002, he was a member of the Worker Advocacy Advisory Group, which advised the Department of Energy on occupational disease. He has also co-chaired a group advising the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health on its research agenda on the social and economic consequences of workplace illness and injury. In 2016-2018, he served on the Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health, advising the U. S. Department of Labor on benefits to nuclear weapons workers who became ill from exposures to toxic substances at work. Currently, he is Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Study Panel of the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

I have authored articles on workplace injury risk, impacts, and interventions with a DEIA lens. I am currently working with colleagues at BU, USC, and RAND on a proposal to examine how structural racism and discrimination affect return to work and earnings after an occupational injury or illness. I have also been studying the epidemiological literature on how to approach estimating these impacts. I am a member of my departments DEIA committee.

Boston Medical Center




The Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health Center for Work, Health and Wellbeing
09/01/2021 - 08/31/2026 (Subcontract PI)
President and Fellows of Harvard College dba Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health HHS CDC
5U19OH008861-16-00

All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality Resulting from Non-Fatal Occupational Injuries
09/30/2018 - 09/29/2023 (PI)
HHS/CDC/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health


The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Center for Work, Health and Wellbeing
09/01/2016 - 08/31/2021 (Subcontract PI)
President and Fellows of Harvard College HHS CDC NIOSH
5U19OH008861-14-00

The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Center for Work, Health and Wellbeing (Enterprise Outcomes)
02/01/2018 - 08/31/2020 (Subcontract PI)
Harvard School of Public Health HHS CDC NIOSH
5U19OH008861-12-00

Mortality Consequences of Non-Fatal Occupational Injuries
07/01/2014 - 06/30/2017 (PI)
HHS/CDC/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
6R21OH010555-02-04

Racial Disparities in the Economic Outcomes of Work-Related Disabilities
09/01/2014 - 05/31/2017 (Subcontract PI)
University of Southern California HHS CDC NIOSH
5R21OH010442-02

The Harvard School of Public Health Center for Work, Health and Wellbeing
09/01/2011 - 08/31/2016 (Subcontract PI)
President and Fellows of Harvard College HHS CDC NIOSH
5U19OH008861-09

The Impact of Contractor Utilization on Health and Safety
05/01/2014 - 07/31/2015 (PI)
Alpha Foundation


Research to Provide Information About Factors Affecting Variation in the Proportion of Non-Fatal Injuries and Illnesses Captured by SOII
09/01/2011 - 08/31/2013 (PI)
Department of Labor/Bureau of Labor Statistics


Capture-Recapture Analysis of Workplace Injury and Illness Reporting in California
05/01/2006 - 04/30/2008 (PI)
California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation

Showing 10 of 15 results. Show All Results


Title


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs
2021 All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality Resulting from Non-Fatal Occupational Injuries 5R01OH011511-04
2020 All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality Resulting from Non-Fatal Occupational Injuries 5R01OH011511-03
2019 All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality Resulting from Non-Fatal Occupational Injuries 5R01OH011511-02
2018 All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality Resulting from Non-Fatal Occupational Injuries 1R01OH011511-01A1
2015 Mortality Consequences of Non-Fatal Occupational Injuries 5R21OH010555-02 2
2014 Mortality Consequences of Non-Fatal Occupational Injuries 1R21OH010555-01 2
2009 Linking Federal and State Data to Study the Economic Effects of Workplace Injury 5R01OH009267-03 2
2008 Linking Federal and State Data to Study the Economic Effects of Workplace Injury 5R01OH009267-02 2
2007 Linking Federal and State Data to Study the Economic Effects of Workplace Injury 1R01OH009267-01 2
2004 Capture-Recapture Estimates of Workplace Injury Rates 5R01OH007596-03 4
Showing 10 of 16 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 Analysis       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. Williams JAR, Collins JE, Gandhi A, Yu H, Boden LI, Katz JN, Wagner GR, Sorensen G. Can Better Leadership Reduce Nursing Home Staff Turnover? J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2024 Mar; 25(3):403-407.e1. PMID: 37356810
     
  2. Boden LI, Asfaw A, Busey A, Tripodis Y, O'Leary PK, Applebaum KM, Stokes AC, Fox MP. . Increased all-cause mortality following occupational injury: a comparison of two states. Occupational and environmental medicine. 2022; 12(79):816-823. View Publication
  3. Boden LI, Asfaw A, Busey A, Tripodis Y, O'Leary PK, Applebaum KM, Stokes AC, Fox MP. Increased all-cause mortality following occupational injury: a comparison of two states. Occup Environ Med. 2022 12; 79(12):816-823.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36253089; PMCID: PMC10124819; DOI: 10.1136/oemed-2022-108481;
     
  4. Collins JE, Boden LI, Gundersen DA, Katz JN, Wagner GR, Sorensen G, Williams JAR. Workplace Integrated Safety and Health Program Uptake in Nursing Homes: Associations with Ownership. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 10 28; 18(21). PMID: 34769830; PMCID: PMC8583467; DOI: 10.3390/ijerph182111313;
     
  5. Busey A, Asfaw A, Applebaum KM, O'Leary PK, Tripodis Y, Fox MP, Stokes AC, Boden LI. Mortality following workplace injury: Quantitative bias analysis. Ann Epidemiol. 2021 12; 64:155-160.View Related Profiles. PMID: 34607011; PMCID: PMC10026009; DOI: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2021.09.015;
     
  6. López Gómez MA, Gundersen DA, Boden LI, Sorensen G, Katz JN, Collins JE, Wagner G, Vriniotis MG, Williams JA. Validation of the Workplace Integrated Safety and Health (WISH) assessment in a sample of nursing homes using Item Response Theory (IRT) methods. BMJ Open. 2021 06 18; 11(6):e045656. PMID: 34145013; PMCID: PMC8215260; DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045656;
     
  7. Williams JAR, Vriniotis MG, Gundersen DA, Boden LI, Collins JE, Katz JN, Wagner GR, Sorensen G. How to ask: Surveying nursing directors of nursing homes. Health Sci Rep. 2021 Jun; 4(2):e304. PMID: 34136659; PMCID: PMC8177897; DOI: 10.1002/hsr2.304;
     
  8. Dorman P Boden L. Risk without reward: The myth of wage compensation for hazardous work. In: Unequal Power, Economic Policy Institute. Washington, DC. Economic Policy Institute. Washington, D.C. 2021. View Publication
  9. López Gómez MA, Williams JAR, Boden L, Sorensen G, Hopcia K, Hashimoto D, Sabbath E. The relationship of occupational injury and use of mental health care. J Safety Res. 2020 09; 74:227-232. PMID: 32951787; PMCID: PMC10868658; DOI: 10.1016/j.jsr.2020.06.004;
     
  10. Boden LI. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration at 50-the Failure to Improve Workers' Compensation. Am J Public Health. 2020 05; 110(5):638-639. PMID: 32267756; PMCID: PMC7144435; DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305549;
     
Showing 10 of 129 results. Show More

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

Bar chart showing 123 publications over 41 distinct years, with a maximum of 8 publications in 2014

YearPublications
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19851
19865
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20204
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Whatever Happened to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Report Wire 10/30/2023

Circumventing Covid-19 with better ventilation and air quality

STAT 7/20/2021

Injured Workers More Likely to Die from Suicide, Drug Overdose: Study

Business Insurance 8/8/2019

Workplace Injuries Triple Women's Risk of Suicide or Overdose

Bizwomen (The Business Journals) 8/7/2019

Workplace injuries may drive rise in overdose deaths and suicides

HR Dive 8/5/2019

Alarming research shows that serious workplace injuries may increase the risk of suicide and drug overdose deaths

Market Watch 7/24/2019

Severe Workplace Injuries Tied to Greater Risk of Suicide, Overdose Deaths

PsychCentral 7/23/2019

Study links opioid deaths to workplace injuries

The Boston Globe 8/8/2018

Study: Working in pain linked to opioid deaths in construction, fishing jobs

Boston Herald 8/8/2018
In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

Labor Economics
Occupational Safety and Health
Workers' Compensation
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