Debra Lerner

Dr. Lerner is founder of the Program on Health, Work and Productivity, Tufts Medical Center, Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry of Tufts School of Medicine and Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Science, and Dr. Lerner is Associate Director for Organizational Impact, Tufts CTSI. She has dedicated her career to reducing the human and economic burden of illness and disability, and translating research results into evidence-based workplace policies and practices that enable all adults to remain productive throughout their lives. She is a national thought leader on workplace mental health. Her major accomplishments include developing the Be Well at Work program, which improves the functional performance and mental health of employees with depression, and the well-known Work Limitations Questionnaire, which is used in research and evaluation worldwide. As an expert in workplace mental health, and employee health and work productivity she has been principal investigator on studies to develop employer and employee strategies to purchase high-value, patient-centered health care; improve workplace and community supports for family caregivers; and leverage the workplace to improve employee and family mental health. She is co-investigator on a Veterans Health Administration randomized trial testing a stress management intervention for employed caregivers of veterans with depression, anxiety and/or PTSD. She also co-leads the Working While Caring initiative for the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, which is engaging employers to address the needs of their employee caregivers. She recently authored a widely-cited white paper, Invisible overtime: What employers need to know about caregivers (Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, 2022).