Associate Professor of Medicine
School of Medicine
Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Richmond, CA 94804
nkrause(at)berkeley.edu
510-665-3517
Fax: 510-665-3696
 
Current Research Interests
• Occupational and social epidemiology of musculoskeletal and cardiovascular diseases (e.g., low back pain, tennis elbow, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease)
• Biomechanical and psychosocial risk factors
• Predictors and prevention of work disability
• Occupational health services: treatment guidelines for musculoskeletal injuries; physician attitudes and behaviors in the workers' compensation system; patient satisfaction; chronic disability; return-to-work
• Special experience with (a) large administrative databases, especially workers' compensation claims and bill review files, (b) participatory research, (c) measurement of psychosocial and behavioral risk factors, such as job stress, (d) complex epidemiological study design and analysis strategies
 
Key Publications
• Teresa Scherzer, Reiner Rugulies, and Niklas Krause. "Work-related Pain and Injury and Barriers to Workers' Compensation Among Las Vegas Hotel Room Cleaners." American Journal of Public Health 95, no. 3 (March 2005): 483-488.
• Niklas Krause, Reiner Rugulies, David R. Ragland, and S. Leonard Syme. "Physical Workload, Ergonomic Problems, and Incidence of Low Back Injury: A 7.5 Year Prospective Study of San Francisco Transit Operators." American Journal of Industrial Medicine 46 (2004): 570-585.
• Krause N, Ragland DR, Fisher JM, Syme SL. 1998. Psychosocial job factors, physical workload, and incidence of work-related spinal injuries: a 5-year prospective study of urban transit operators. Spine 23:2507-16.
• Krause N, Lynch JW, Kaplan GA, Cohen RD, Salonen JT. 2000. Standing at work and progression of carotid atherosclerosis. Scand J Work Environ Health 26(3):227-36.
• Dasinger LK, Krause N, Deegan L, Brand R, Rudolph L. 2000. Physical workplace factors and return to work after compensated low back injury: a disability phase-specific analysis. J Occup Environ Med 42(3):323-33.
• Krause N, Dasinger L, Neuhauser F. 1998. Modified work and return to work: a review of the literature. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation 8(2):113-39.
• Krause N, Lynch JW, Kaplan GA, Cohen RD, Goldberg DE, Salonen JT. 1997. Predictors of disability retirement. Scand J Work Environ Health 23(6):403-13.
 
Honors
•  2006 Co-recipient of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA)/Liberty Mutual Prize in Occupational Safety and Ergonomics 2006 for paper on randomized controlled trial evaluating the effects of two workstation interventions on upper body pain and incident musculoskeletal disorders among computer operators
• 1997 VOLVO Award for best clinical paper in back pain research
• 1992 OUTSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENT INSTRUCTOR AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING, University of California
 
Public and University Service
• Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA): Ergonomic Program Standard (1999-2000), invited expert witness at OSHA hearings on (Washington DC, March 22, 2000)
• Invited member, epidemiologic evidence panel on treatment guidelines for musculoskeletal injuries in the workers' compensation system (1995-96) convened byCalifornia Department of Industrial Relations.
• Peer Reviewer, American Journal of Industrial Medicine, Cochrane Collaboration BackReview Group, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology and Spine.