Erika Sabbath

Research Fellow

Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies

Research Interests

• Occupational health disparities
• Post-retirement health effects of occupational exposures during working life
• Life course approaches to health and health disparities, particularly the interplay of work and non-work factors

Dr. Sabbath’s research examines associations between occupational exposures during working life and health after retirement, with a focus on the role of work in shaping socioeconomic aging patterns. Her work employs methodology from the fields of social epidemiology, occupational epidemiology, and aging, leveraging the strengths of each field and applying them to the others in novel ways.  Her dissertation analyzed the contribution of chemical, ergonomic, and psychosocial exposures during working life to post-retirement functional and cognitive outcomes in the French GAZEL cohort. Health outcomes of particular interest include cognitive function, occupational injury, and disability.

Current Research Projects

• As part of a team of American and European researchers, Dr. Sabbath is working on a study exploring the role of formal and informal social protection policies in shaping health and mortality disparities in the U.S. and Europe, with a special focus on the role of work-family interface throughout the life course.
• Dr. Sabbath continues her work with the GAZEL cohort, with projects examining the contribution of occupational exposures during life to health disparities in retirement, and on the role of retirement in shaping social engagement.
• Using data from a cohort of workers at two large academic medical centers, Dr. Sabbath is analyzing the effects of workplace bullying and verbal abuse on occupational injury, needlestick injury, and other OSHA-reportable health outcomes.
• As a qualitative component of the Work, Family, and Health intervention study, Dr. Sabbath is studying the extent to which Medicaid and Medicare policy surrounding reimbursement based on patient acuity in nursing homes is associated with risk of injury among low-wage, direct-care workers.

Publications

1. Descatha A, Duval S, Sabbath EL, Vuotto G. (2012). “Difficult Working Conditions, Retirement, and Reform in France: What are the Roles of the Medical Social Worker and Primary Care Physician?” Health and Social Work  37 (1).
2. Sabbath, EL, Glymour MM, Berr C, Singh-Manoux A, Zins M, Goldberg M, Berkman, LF. (2012). “Occupational solvent exposure and cognition: Does the association vary by level of education?” Neurology 78 (22): 1754-60.
3. Sabbath, EL, Descatha, A, Wu, Q, Goldberg, M. (2012). “Can a single-item measure assess physical load at work? An analysis from the GAZEL cohort.” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 54(5):598-603.
4. Hurtado, D, Sabbath, EL, Ertel, K, Buxton, O, Berkman, LF. (2012). “Racial disparities in job strain among American and immigrant long-term care workers.” International Nursing Review 59(2), 237-244
5. Okechukwu CA, El Ayadi A, Tamers, S., Sabbath, EL, Berkman, LF. (2012). “Household food insufficiency, financial strain, work-family strain and depressive symptoms in the working class: Results from the Work Family and Health study.” American Journal of Public Health 102(1), 126-133.
6. Sabbath EL, Melchior M, Goldberg M, Berkman LF. (2012). “Work and family demands: predictors of all-cause sickness absence in the GAZEL cohort.” European Journal of Public Health 22 (1): 101-106.

Education

• ScD, Harvard School of Public Health and Université Paris XI-Sud (joint degree)
• MS, Harvard School of Public Health
• BA, Washington University in St. Louis