Alden Lai

Assistant Professor of Public Health Policy and Management

Professional overview

I study how workers exercise agency over their work lives across a range of occupational groups, from structurally disadvantaged workers to those in complex, knowledge-intensive roles. I approach this as a public health problem: the quality of jobs and work environment are important but underutilized levers for advancing people’s psychosocial health and wellbeing. My research has been published in health care and management journals, including Academy of Management Discoveries, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. I am an editorial board member for Health Care Management Review and Medical Care Research and Review, and have served as an expert for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and Gallup on worker wellbeing issues. I am an affiliated faculty member of the Department of Management and Organizations at NYU Stern.

At GPH, I teach courses on management, leadership, and strategy in public health.

I have worked with governments, health systems, international and non-profit organizations, corporations, and philanthropies internationally. I am currently a board member for the Wellbeing for Planet Earth Foundation, whose mission is to foster a more globally inclusive understanding of wellbeing for research, practice, and policy.

Education

BA, Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore

MPH, Social & Behavioral Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan

PhD, Health Policy & Management (Organizational Behavior), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Honors and awards

Outstanding Early Career Educator Award, Health Care Management Division, Academy of Management (2025)

Early Career Teaching Excellence Award, NYU GPH (2025)

Early Career Achievement Award, Health Care Management Division, Academy of Management (2024)

“40 Under 40 in Public Health” Award, Boston Congress of Public Health (2023)

Denny Gioia Award for Best Qualitative Paper, Managerial and Organizational Cognition Division, Academy of Management (2023)

“Best Paper” (top 10%), Managerial and Organizational Cognition Division, Academy of Management (2023)

Goddard Faculty Award, NYU GPH (2023)

NYU GPH Leadership Development Award (2021)

19 Washington Square North Faculty Fellowship (2021)

Outstanding Paper based on a Dissertation Award, Division of Health Care Management, Academy of Management (2021)

Show Chwan Scholar in Health Care Management (2018)

Sir Arthur Newsholme Scholar (2015)

The University of Tokyo President Award (2013)

University of Copenhagen-International Alliance of Research Universities Scholar (2012)

Government of Japan Monbukagakusho Scholar (2011)

Sato-Yo International Foundation Scholar (2009)

Areas of research and study

Health Care Management

Health Care Workforce

Knowledge Workers

Primary Care

Proactivity at Work

Qualitative Research

Well-Being at Work

Work Design

Consulting and Community Engagement

1199 Benefit and Pension Funds
Ajinomoto
Ando Foundation
Ashoka
Asian Venture Philanthropy Network
Australian Sports Commission
Carnegie UK Trust
Clinical Directors Network Inc.
Columbia University Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs
Diplomatic Courier
Earth Company
G1 Institute Japan
Gallup Inc.
Government of Australia, Treasury
Harvard University Human Flourishing Program
John Templeton Foundation
Katsuiku Foundation
Learned Society of Wales
National Healthcare Group
Nestle
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Bureau of Equitable Health Systems
New York City Health + Hospitals
New York City Office of Labor Relations
New York City Department of Education, Office of School Health
Nikkei
OECD Center for Well-Being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity
Otsuka Pharmaceutical
Oxford University Wellbeing Research Centre
Permanent Delegation of Japan to the OECD
PERSOL Holdings
Physician Affiliate Group of New York
Prime Minister’s Office, Iceland
Tecnologico de Monterrey, Human Flourishing Projects
Templeton World Charity Foundation
The Consumer Goods Forum
The Hastings Center
The HOW Institute for Society
The Leadership and Happiness Laboratory, Harvard Kennedy School
KRC Research and United Minds, The Weber Shandwick Collective
UNICEF Office of Global Insight and Policy
United Nations Human Development Report Office
United Nations Statistics Division
Unson Foundation
WHO Commission on Social Connection
Woodlands Health Campus
World Happiness Council

Publications

Publications

Determinants of implementation and sustainability of transitional opioid programs within rural and urban safety net hospitals

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Implementation Strategies to Enhance Safety-Net Hospitals' Adoption of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

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Positive Reframing: How Physicians Adapt Functionally During Stressful Work Situations

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The complex relationship between inner and outer peace: New global insights from the Gallup World Poll

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Wellbeing in essential workers: The role of family-related risk and coworker support

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A call to integrate mental health support into Sickle Cell Disease care: The value of task-sharing in low- and middle-income countries

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A multidimensional assessment of global flourishing : Differential rankings of 145 Countries on 38 wellbeing indicators in the Gallup World Poll, with an accompanying principal components analyses of the structure of flourishing

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Barriers and facilitators to implementing a task-sharing mental health intervention for Sickle Cell Disease populations in low- and middle-income countries: a qualitative analysis using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR)

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Bridging barriers, integrating insights: The Gotham approach to CTSA collaborative evaluation

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Forging hospital and community partnerships to enable care coordination for opioid use disorder

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Job burnout: Consequences for individuals, organizations, and equity

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Lai, A. Y., Cheung, F., Lee, Y. A., Paul, R., Uchida, Y., Wang, S., & Wu, F. Y. (2025, Mar 21). World Happiness Report 2025 Asian Launch [chair]. Virtual.

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Lai, A. Y., De Neve, J.-E., Dugan, A., Morishima, C., & Prati, A. (2024, November 6). Cooking and eating together: exploring the connection between well-being and food [moderator]. 7th OECD World Forum on well-being, Rome, Italy.

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Lai, A. Y., Fairley, H., Gifford, D., & Platt, J. (2025, Apr 30). What do we know about how to build clinician trust in organizations. Summit on Clinician Trust in Healthcare Organizations, the George Washington University Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for He

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Lai, A. Y., Morishima C., & De Neve, J.-E. (2025, March 20). Sharing meals and happiness [moderator]. World Happiness Report 2025 Launch, Gallup, Washington DC, USA.

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Proactivity, relationships, and inclusivity : Emerging topics in work design for health care management research

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Proactivity, relationships, and inclusivity: Emerging topics in work design for health care management research

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Religious/Spiritual Connection and Subjective Well-Being Across Religious and Nonreligious Individuals in 121 Countries

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Religious/Spiritual Connection and Subjective Wellbeing Around the World: A Cross-Sectional Analysis with Nationally Representative Samples from 121 Countries

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Strategies to Support Care Transitions for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder: Pathways and Partnerships for Success

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What makes proactive behaviors at work effective? Perspectives of health care executives

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 Lai, A. Y. (2025, Apr 2). Job burnout, employee wellbeing, and work design [keynote]. Latin American Initiative for Health Management and Innovation Annual Summit 2025, INCAE Business School, La Garita, Costa Rica.

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A multidimensional assessment of global flourishing : Differential rankings of 145 Countries on 38 wellbeing indicators in the Gallup World Poll, with an accompanying principal components analyses of the structure of flourishing

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Barriers and Facilitators to Establishing Partnerships for Substance Use Disorder Care Transitions Between Safety-Net Hospitals and Community-Based Organizations

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Changes in hospital-supported substance use services across U.S. nonprofit hospitals, 2015-2021

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