Alden Lai
Alden Lai
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Assistant Professor of Public Health Policy and Management
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Professional overview
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Alden Lai studies the quality of jobs and work environments (i.e., “work design”) of workers to achieve better employee outcomes and organizational performance in health care. He uses qualitative and mixed methods to examine workplace behaviors that have important implications for employees, patients, and organizations, such as proactive behavior among frontline workers. With an aim of enhancing worker wellbeing, his research has been published in both management and health care journals, including Academy of Management Discoveries, Health Care Management Review, Medical Care Research and Review, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and The Milbank Quarterly. He is an editorial board member for Health Care Management Review and Medical Care Research and Review, and has served as a national and international expert for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on workforce issues. He is an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Management and Organizations at NYU Stern.
Dr. Lai has received international recognition for his research, teaching, and contributions to his field. They include an Early Career Achievement Award, Outstanding Early Career Educator Award, and Outstanding Paper based on a Dissertation Award from the Academy of Management’s Health Care Management Division, and a Teaching Excellence Award from GPH.
At GPH, he teaches courses on management, leadership, and strategy in public health.
Dr. Lai has advised federal and state governments, health systems, international and non-profit organizations, corporations, and philanthropies internationally. His professional experiences include being a management consultant and social enterprise strategist. He is 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.
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Education
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BA, Psychology, National University of Singapore, SingaporeMPH, Social & Behavioral Sciences, The University of Tokyo, JapanPhD, Health Policy & Management (Organizational Behavior), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
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Honors and awards
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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)
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Areas of research and study
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Health Care ManagementHealth Care WorkforceKnowledge WorkersPrimary CareProactivity at WorkQualitative ResearchWell-Being at WorkWork Design
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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
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
AbstractLomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Lai, A., Pawelski, J. O., & VanderWeele, T. J. (n.d.).Publication year
2025Journal title
Journal of Positive PsychologyVolume
20Issue
3Page(s)
397-421AbstractFor over ten years the World Happiness Report has influentially ranked nations on self-reported life evaluation as measured by the Gallup World Poll. Inspired by this endeavour, this paper aims to broaden our understanding of global flourishing by assessing an expansive battery of 38 items relating to wellbeing in the World Poll, encompassing 386,654 people in 145 countries over three years (2020–2022). The variation in the respective placing of countries across different items reveals a complex picture of flourishing, with many nations ranking highly on certain metrics but faring poorly on others. Additionally, principal components analyses of the items produced a conceptualization of flourishing featuring numerous dimensions (with both a three- and six-factor solution being viable). Together, these findings paint a nuanced picture of both the multifaceted nature of flourishing and its complex manifestations around the world.Forging hospital and community partnerships to enable care coordination for opioid use disorder
AbstractLindenfeld, Z., Franz, B., Lai, A., Pagán, J. A., Fenstemaker, C., Cronin, C. E., & Chang, J. E. (n.d.).Publication year
2025Journal title
Addiction Science and Clinical PracticeVolume
20Issue
1AbstractBackground: Programs that aim to increase access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment in hospital-based settings have proliferated in recent years. These efforts include transitional opioid programs (TOPs), which navigate patients to community-based SUD treatment programs post-discharge. Successful navigation from TOPs to outpatient treatment hinges on effective coordination between hospitals and post-discharge endpoints, yet it is unclear how hospitals can best develop effective partnerships with outpatient treatment organizations. The objective of this study is to synthesize the common themes underpinning the development of partnerships to facilitate care transitions between TOPs and ongoing SUD treatment. Methods: Qualitative study with staff and providers from hospitals affiliated with four safety-net health systems (n = 21) and leaders from community-based organizations (CBOs) and treatment facilities that had established referral partnerships with one of the four health systems in our study (n = 4). Results: Analysis of interview transcripts revealed seven common themes that underpinned the development of care transitions partnerships: (1) Active, intentional outreach; (2) Responding to a community need; (3) External Enabling Factors; (4) Leveraging reputations and community connections; (5) Focusing on operations; (6) Reciprocal relationships; and (7) Building Infrastructure and Processes to Ensure Collaboration. The seven identified themes were categorized into three groups corresponding to different partnership development stages. The first group revolves around the initial stage of meeting and developing a relationship (themes #1–4). The second set focuses on navigating and resolving challenges that arise in the partnership (themes #5–6). Lastly, the third group pertains to sustaining a partnership long-term (theme #7). Conclusions: This study identifies seven core themes underlying the development of care transition partnerships for SUD patients within four safety net health systems and their CBO partners. These themes demonstrate how partner organizations can establish the trust, reciprocity, and commitment necessary to support patients through the critical transition period.Implementation Strategies to Enhance Safety-Net Hospitals’ Adoption of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder
AbstractLindenfeld, Z., Franz, B., Fenstemaker, C., Lai, A., Pagan, J. A., Cronin, C. E., & Chang, J. E. (n.d.).Publication year
2025Journal title
Journal of general internal medicineAbstractBackground: To support adoption of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for opioid use disorder (OUD), hospitals are likely to benefit from implementation strategies that are responsive to their unique environments. Yet there remains a gap in knowledge regarding which implementation strategies are needed to support SBIRT implementation and sustainment for OUD within safety-net hospitals. Objectives: To obtain expert consensus on the most effective implementation strategies to enhance the adoption of SBIRT for OUD in safety-net hospitals. Design and Setting: A modified Delphi study, with two rounds of online surveys. Participants: Eighteen US-based experts from within the fields of OUD-focused health services research, addiction medicine, and emergency medicine. Main Measures: The primary outcome was consensus on 35 potential SBIRT implementation strategies, ranked on a 5-point Likert scale across three domains: Effectiveness, Feasibility, Impact on Equity. Consensus across respondents within both rounds was evaluated using the interquartile range. If the IQR was 1 or below on the 0 to 5 Likert scale, consensus was considered obtained. Items with a median value of 4 or higher were considered high priority. Results: Following two rounds of ranking, consensus was achieved for all survey items. In total, 62.85% strategies (n = 22) were rated as High in Effectiveness, 20.0% (n = 7) were rated as High in Feasibility, and 11.42% (n = 4) were rated High in Impact on Equity. Seven strategies ranked high in two areas, with three—Identify and Prepare Champions, Identify Early Adopters, and Conduct Educational Meetings—ranked as highly effective and feasible. Conclusions: This consensus process provides strong support for implementation strategies that can be used to guide future practice and study. This work can encourage implementation of SBIRT for OUD within safety-net hospitals, and set the stage for future studies to evaluate the impact of different implementation strategies on patient outcomes following SBIRT.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.
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2025Abstract~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.
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2025Abstract~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 Health Workforce Equity, American Board of Internal Medicine, and Hastings Center, Washington DC, USA.
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2025Abstract~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.
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2025Abstract~Proactivity, relationships, and inclusivity : Emerging topics in work design for health care management research
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2025Journal title
Health Care Management ReviewVolume
50Issue
3Page(s)
163-164Abstract~Proactivity, Relationships, and Inclusivity: Emerging Topics in Work Design for Health Care Management Research
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2025Journal title
Health Care Management ReviewAbstract~What makes proactive behaviors effective? Perspectives of health care executives
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2025Journal title
Health Care Management ReviewVolume
50Issue
1Page(s)
13-22Abstract~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
AbstractLomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Lai, A., Pawelski, J. O., & VanderWeele, T. J. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Journal title
Journal of Positive PsychologyAbstractFor over ten years the World Happiness Report has influentially ranked nations on self-reported life evaluation as measured by the Gallup World Poll. Inspired by this endeavour, this paper aims to broaden our understanding of global flourishing by assessing an expansive battery of 38 items relating to wellbeing in the World Poll, encompassing 386,654 people in 145 countries over three years (2020–2022). The variation in the respective placing of countries across different items reveals a complex picture of flourishing, with many nations ranking highly on certain metrics but faring poorly on others. Additionally, principal components analyses of the items produced a conceptualization of flourishing featuring numerous dimensions (with both a three- and six-factor solution being viable). Together, these findings paint a nuanced picture of both the multifaceted nature of flourishing and its complex manifestations around the world.Barriers and Facilitators to Establishing Partnerships for Substance Use Disorder Care Transitions Between Safety-Net Hospitals and Community-Based Organizations
AbstractLindenfeld, Z., Franz, B., Lai, A., Pagan, J., Fenstemaker, C., Cronin, C. E., & Chang, J. E. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Journal title
Journal of general internal medicineVolume
39Issue
12Page(s)
2150-2159AbstractBackground: The effectiveness of hospital-based transitional opioid programs (TOPs), which aim to connect patients with substance use disorders (SUD) to ongoing treatment in the community following initiation of medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment in the hospital, hinges on successful patient transitions. These transitions are enabled by strong partnerships between hospitals and community-based organizations (CBOs). However, no prior study has specifically examined barriers and facilitators to establishing SUD care transition partnerships between hospitals and CBOs. Objective: To identify barriers and facilitators to developing partnerships between hospitals and CBOs to facilitate care transitions for patients with SUDs. Design: Qualitative study using semi structured interviews conducted between November 2022-August 2023. Participants: Staff and providers from hospitals affiliated with four safety-net health systems (n=21), and leaders and staff from the CBOs with which they had established partnerships (n=5). Approach: Interview questions focused on barriers and facilitators to implementing TOPs, developing partnerships with CBOs, and successfully transitioning SUD patients from hospital settings to CBOs. Key Results: We identified four key barriers to establishing transition partnerships: policy and philosophical differences between organizations, ineffective communication, limited trust, and a lack of connectivity between data systems. We also identified three facilitators to partnership development: strategies focused on building partnership quality, strategic staffing, and organizing partnership processes. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that while multiple barriers to developing hospital-CBO partnerships exist, stakeholders can adopt implementation strategies that mitigate these challenges such as using mediators, cross-hiring, and focusing on mutually beneficial services, even within resource-limited safety-net settings. Policymakers and health system leaders who wish to optimize TOPs in their facilities should focus on adopting implementation strategies to support transition partnerships such as inadequate data collection and sharing systems.Changes in hospital-supported substance use services across U.S. nonprofit hospitals, 2015-2021
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Journal title
Health Affairs ScholarAbstract~Clinician Trust in Healthcare Organizations Expert Working Group, George Washington University Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, American Board of Internal Medicine, and The Hastings Center (2024)
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Abstract~Expert consultant to OECD Report "An OECD survey of employee wellbeing: An instrument to measure employee wellbeing inside companies"
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Abstract~Job burnout: Consequences for individuals, organizations, and equity
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Abstract~Lai, A. Y. (2024, Feb 8). Uncertainty and Curiosity. Gallup Global Learning Day, Gallup Inc. Virtual.
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Abstract~Lai, A. Y. (2024, Oct 2). Consequences of burnout and implications for equity. The Impact of Burnout on Gender Equity in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: A Workshop. Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Washington DC, USA.
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Abstract~Lai, A. Y. (2025, Apr 2). Job burnout, employee wellbeing, and work design. Latin American Initiative for Health Management and Innovation Annual Summit 2025, INCAE Business School, La Garita, Costa Rica.
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Abstract~Lai. A. Y. (2024, December 5). Discussion on Mapping human flourishing research in Mexico. International Seminar on Human Flourishing in Latin America, Tecnológico de Monterrey and the Templeton World Charity Foundation, Monterrey, Mexico.
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Abstract~Love over gold and mind over matter? Identifying capabilities that preserve medical assistants' sustainable employability
AbstractFleuren, B. P., Lai, A., Larkin, J., Grunewald-Schmitz, L., & Yuan, C. T. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Journal title
Human Resources for HealthAbstract~Love over gold and mind over matter? Identifying capabilities that preserve medical assistants’ sustainable employability
AbstractFleuren, B. P., Lai, A., Gruenewald-Schmitz, L., Larkin, J., & Yuan, C. T. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Journal title
Human Resources for HealthVolume
22Issue
1AbstractBackground: Medical assistants (MAs) are crucial for affordable, high-quality primary care, but what motivates this low-wage occupational group to stay in their job remains underexplored. This paper identifies the work aspects that MAs value (“capabilities”), and how they affect sustainable employability, which refers to employees’ long-term ability to function and remain in their job. Methods: We used structural equation modelling to assess how capabilities relate to four outcomes among MAs: burnout, job satisfaction, intention to quit, and experiencing work as meaningful. Results: We find that earning a good income, developing knowledge and skills, and having meaningful relationships at work relate to the outcomes. Meaningful relationships represent a stronger predictor than salary for one’s intention to quit. Conclusions: Competitive salaries are necessary but not sufficient to motivate low-wage health care workers like MAs to stay in their job. Health care leaders and managers should also structure work so that MAs can foster meaningful relationships with others as well as develop competencies.Managing Surges in Demand : A Grounded Conceptual Framework of Surge Management Capability
AbstractLarson, J. D., Lai, A., DePuccio, M. J., & Hilligoss, B. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Journal title
Medical Care Research and ReviewAbstractSurge management is important to hospital operations, yet surge literature has mostly focused on the addition of resources (e.g., 25% more beds) during events like pandemics. Such views are limiting, as meeting surge demands requires hospitals to engage in practices tailored to a surge’s unique contingencies. We argue that a dynamic view of surge management should include surge management capability, which refers to how resources are deployed to respond to surge contingencies. To understand this capability, we qualitatively studied five hospital systems experiencing multiple surges due to COVID-19 between April 2020 and March 2022. We develop a framework showing that managing surges involves preserving capacity, expanding capacity, smoothing capacity demand, and enabling surge management. We contribute to surge literature by identifying practices hospitals can adopt to address surges and offering a better understanding of surge conditions (e.g., degree of novelty) that make some surge management practices more appropriate than others.Proactive behaviors and health care workers : A systematic review
AbstractLai, A., Wee, K. Z., Frimpong, J. A., & Frimpong, J. A. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Journal title
Health Care Management ReviewVolume
49Issue
3Page(s)
239-251AbstractBackground Proactive behaviors at work refer to discretionary actions among workers that are self-starting, change oriented, and future focused. Proactive behaviors reflect the idiosyncratic actions by individual workers that shape the delivery and experience of professional services, highlight a bottom-up perspective on workers' agency and motivation that can influence organizational practices, and are associated with a variety of employee and organizational outcomes. Purpose This systematic review aims to understand the various forms of proactive behaviors in health care workers that have been studied, and how these proactive behaviors are associated with employee-level outcomes and quality of care. Methods Systematic review of articles published to date on proactive behaviors in health care workers. Results Based on the identification of 40 articles, we find that job crafting, active problem solving, voice, extra-role behaviors, and idiosyncratic deals have been investigated as proactive behaviors among health care workers. Among these, job crafting is the most commonly studied (35% of articles), and it has been conceptualized and measured in the most consistent way, including as individual- and group-level phenomena, and as organizational interventions. Studies on active problem solving, which refers to workers accepting responsibility, exercising control, and taking action around anticipated or experienced problems at work, have not been consistently investigated as a form of proactive behavior but represent 25% of the articles identified in this review. Overall, this review finds that proactive behaviors in health care is a burgeoning area of research, with the majority of studies being cross-sectional in design and published after 2010, and focused on workers' job satisfaction as the outcome. Practice Implications Health care workers and managers should consider the distinct influences and contributions of proactive behaviors as ways to improve employee-level outcomes and quality of care.Religious/Spiritual Connection and Subjective Wellbeing Around the World: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Nationally Representative Samples from 121 Countries
AbstractLai, A. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Abstract~