My research focuses on the overlap between a person’s job and their health. This includes everything from musculoskeletal disorders like Low Back Pain or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, to motor vehicle crashes, to COVID-19, to mental well-being. I am interested in identification of potential risk factors, interventions to prevent injury or illness, evidence-based practice for both treatment and prevention, and assessments of worker health and safety fitness-for-duty. My background is in epidemiology and injury prevention. I have has coauthored 103 articles (27 as first author), 34 practice guidelines and 5 book chapters. I am a tenured Associate Professor. I mentor 11 PhD and Masters Students, and teach 4 courses. I have extensive experience in designing and conducting epidemiologic and interventional research. I have worked with first responders, healthcare providers, manufacturing, construction and transportation health and safety, including research-analyzing relationships between driver health and subsequent crashes in a retrospective cohort of 90,000 drivers. I have been part of multiple large prospective cohort studies evaluating relationships between musculoskeletal disorders and both job and personal factors. I am currently working as an expert for the CDC regarding COVID-19 and am a co-investigator on the largest COVID-19 study regarding transmission rate and vaccine efficacy. I lead a large research team developing best treatment guidelines for health care providers for a wide range of subjects. We just finished the treatment guideline for Anxiety and we are working on the guideline for Depression. I am also currently conducting research into the occupational relationships between law professionals and well-being to identify current trends and design effective interventions. Well-being in law is a new career focus for me and I see many opportunities to help improve the health and well-being of lawyers and law professionals.

Author: Bree Buchanan
Bree Buchanan, J.D., is Director of the Texas Lawyers Assistance Program of the State Bar of Texas. She serves as co-chair of the National Task Force on Lawyer Wellbeing and is an advisory member of the ABA Commission on Lawyers Assistance Programs (CoLAP). Ms. Buchanan is also the appointed chair of CoLAP for 2017-2018. Ms. Buchanan, upon graduation from the University of Texas School of Law, practiced in the public and private sector with a focus on representing both adult and child victims of family violence. She worked on public policy initiatives and systems change at both the state and federal level as the Public Policy Director for the Texas Council on Family Violence and the National Domestic Violence Hotline. After this position, Ms. Buchanan was appointed Clinical Professor and Co-Director of the Children’s Rights Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law. Ms. Buchanan is a frequent speaker at CLE programs for national organizations, as well as for state and local bar entities. She is a graduate student at the Seminary of the Southwest where she is pursuing a Masters in Spiritual Direction, and is the proud parent of a senior at New York University. Ms. Buchanan tends to her own well-being by engaging in a regular meditation practice, cycling, staying connected to 12-Step recovery, and being willing to ask for help when she needs it.