Karen Lasser, MD, MPH

CARE Unit Faculty

Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health, Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health

Contact

Karen.Lasser@bmc.org
617-414-6688
Crosstown Center, 801 Massachusetts Ave., 2^nd Floor, Boston, MA 02118

Biography

Dr. Lasser is a primary care internist, certified by the American Boards of Internal Medicine, and a health services researcher.

Her primary areas of expertise and research are quality of care, health disparities, health policy, smoking cessation, and primary care practice-based research to reduce prescription drug abuse.

She is the author of over 30 peer-reviewed publications, and was the former Director of Ambulatory Quality Improvement for the Department of Medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School. Her research has been supported by NIDA, NHLBI, AHRQ, CDC, and the American Cancer Society.

Boston University faculty appointment: 2009

Areas of Specialization

Quality of care
Health disparities
Health policy
Smoking cessation
Prescription drug abuse

Education and Training

Fellowship
General Internal Medicine, Harvard Medical Scho0l, Boston, MA 1999-2001

Residency
Resident (Primary Care/Internal Medicine), Boston City Hospital, Boston, MA, 1995-1998

Education
MD, Cornell University, New York, NY
MPH (Clinical Effectiveness), Harvard University, Boston, MA
AB (History and Literature), Harvard College, Boston, MA

Honors and Awards

Honorable Mention for Research Achievement in Health Services and Outcomes Research, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 2010
Best Oran Presentation, Society of General Internal Medicine’s distinguished, 2010
Honorable Mention for Best Poster, Evans Department of Medicine Research Days, Boston University School of Medicine, 2009
Daniel Ford Award for Research Achievement in Health Services and Outcomes Research, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 2009
Scholars in Medicine Award, Harvard Medical School, 2004
Who’s Who in Executives and Professionals, 2003-2012
Who’s Who in Health Care and Medicine, 2003-2012
HRSA Institutional National Research Service Award, Harvard Medical School, 1998-2001
R. Knight Steele Award for Excellence in Geriatric Clinical Medicine, Boston Medical Center, 1998
Milton A. Rosenbluth International Medicine Fellowship, Cornell University Medical College, 1995
American Medical Student Association International Medicine Fellowship, 1995

Key Publications

Lasser KE, Boyd JW, Woolhandler S, Himmelstein DU, McCormick D, Bor DH. Smoking and Mental Illness: a Population-based Prevalence Study. JAMA. 2000; 284: 2606-2610.

Lasser KE, Kim TW, Alford DP, Cabral H, Saitz R, Samet JH. Is unhealthy substance use associated with failure to receive cancer screening and flu vaccination? A retrospective cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. 2011 Jan 1; 1(1): e000046. Epub 2011 Apr 7.

Lasser KE, Kenst K, Quintiliani L, Wiener R, Murillo J, Bowen D. “Patient Navigation to Promote Smoking Cessation in Primary Care: Baseline Results from a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.” Proceedings of the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine; Orlando, Florida; poster presentation.

Lasser KE. Update in Smoking and Mental Illness: a Primary Care Perspective. Dual Diagnosis 2009; 5(2):191.

Lasser KE, Boyd JW. Varenicline and Smokers with Mental Illness. Lancet 2008, 372:1218.