Lance D. Laird, ThD
Assistant Professor, Family Medicine
Biography
Dr. Laird’s research at Boston University has focused on multiple intersections of Muslim identity with healing professions and public health in the US. His early research on shared symbols of Muslims and Christians in Bethlehem set forth a research agenda on the “dialogue of life.” Dr. Laird employs a “lived religion” and ethnographic approach, and draws on theories of racialization, social suffering, and identity formation. While continuing to write on Christian-Muslim relations in theological circles, he has published articles on how Muslims are represented in medical literature, the emergence of Muslim free clinics, Muslim healthcare chaplaincy, American Muslim physician identities, the religious health assets of predominantly Black Christian and Muslim congregations, im/migrant women’s experience of intimate partner violence. With colleagues in medicine, Dr. Laird has led qualitative studies on chronic pain, diabetes, HPV vaccination, chiropractic care, and telehealth disparities. He was a leader in the Greater Boston Muslim Health Initiative and is currently working on projects with the American Muslim Health Professionals; and with local im/migrant communities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Laird teaches courses on theory in medical anthropology, refugee and im/migrant health, religion and public health, and the formation of health professionals.
Other Positions
- Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students), Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
Education
- Harvard Divinity School, ThD
- Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, MDiv
- University of Virginia, BA
Publications
- Published on 2/20/2025
Roseen EJ, Bussières A, Reichman R, Bora C, Trieu J, Austad K, Williams C, Fischer RA, Parrilla D, Laird LD, LaValley M, Evans RL, Saper RB, Morone NE. A multi-level implementation strategy to increase adoption of chiropractic care for low back pain in primary care clinics: a randomized stepped-wedge pilot study protocol. Chiropr Man Therap. 2025 Feb 20; 33(1):9. PMID: 39979943.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/8/2025
Bloom-Feshbach K, Vasiliou V, Laird LD, Civian JT, Pololi LH. Pandemic Impact on Research Faculty in Academic Medicine: A Mixed Method Study. Womens Health Rep (New Rochelle). 2025; 6(1):21-28. PMID: 39882141.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/1/2024
Laird LD, Bloom-Feshbach K, McNamara T, Gibbs B, Pololi L. Psychological Safety: Creating a Transformative Culture in a Faculty Group Peer-Mentoring Intervention. Chron Mentor Coach. 2024 Jun; 8(1):127-140. PMID: 39210949.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/2/2024
Roseen EJ, Joyce C, Winbush S, Pavco-Luttschwager N, Morone NE, Saper RB, Bartels S, Patel KV, Keysor JJ, Bean JF, Laird LD. Primary care barriers and facilitators to nonpharmacologic treatments for low back pain: A qualitative pilot study. PM R. 2024 May 02. PMID: 38695321.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/10/2023
Mitchell SE, Bragg A, De La Cruz BA, Winter MR, Reichert MJ, Laird LD, Moldovan IA, Parker KN, Martin-Howard J, Gardiner P. Effectiveness of an Immersive Telemedicine Platform for Delivering Diabetes Medical Group Visits for African American, Black and Hispanic, or Latina Women With Uncontrolled Diabetes: The Women in Control 2.0 Noninferiority Randomized Clinical Trial. J Med Internet Res. 2023 May 10; 25:e43669. PMID: 37163341.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/31/2022
Laird LD, Abdul-Majid S. Muslim Chaplains in the Clinical Borderlands: Authority, Function, and Identity. J Relig Health. 2023 Feb; 62(1):147-171. PMID: 36044104.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/13/2022
Levey EJ, Harris BL, Laird LD, Kekulah I, Borba CPC, Henderson DC, Becker AE. Orphans in post-conflict Liberia: Seeking care in fractured communities. Transcult Psychiatry. 2022 Jun; 59(3):235-248. PMID: 35021921.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/29/2021
Mitchell S, Bragg A, Gardiner P, De La Cruz B, Laird L. Patient engagement and presence in a virtual world world diabetes self-management education intervention for minority women. Patient Educ Couns. 2022 Apr; 105(4):797-804. PMID: 34226067.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/25/2021
Roseen EJ, Kasali BA, Corcoran K, Masselli K, Laird L, Saper RB, Alford DP, Cohen E, Lisi A, Atlas SJ, Bean JF, Evans R, Bussières A. Doctors of chiropractic working with or within integrated healthcare delivery systems: a scoping review protocol. BMJ Open. 2021 01 25; 11(1):e043754. PMID: 33495261.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/1/2020
Koenders SL, Barnes LL, Laird LD, Ostrach B, Fix GM. APPLIED TRAINING IN A MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY MASTER'S PROGRAM. Pract Anthropol. 2020 Jan 01; 42(1):43-47. PMID: 35177878.
Read at: PubMed
View 26 more publications: View full profile at BUMC