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I am a NIH postdoctoral research fellow in the sociology department at Indiana University. I also hold a joint appointment at the Indiana University Network Science Institute. My expertise is in health and aging.
My research uses social network analysis and other quantitative methods to study health-related outcomes at the individual level. Using a broad array of data (e.g., prospective surveys, mortality records, and quantitative neuroimaging phenotypes) I explore how the social environment shapes personal health. My current work examines a diversity of outcomes including cognitive function, mortality, and loneliness.
Recent and Upcoming News
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August 9, 2020—I will be presenting a paper entitled "Marriage and Mortality: The Importance of Non-Spousal Support Among Never Married Older Adults" at the American Sociological Association annual meeting (via Zoom).
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August 6, 2020—I presented a paper entitled "Personal Networks and Cognitive Impairment: Mechanisms of Social Causation and Social Contraction" at the UC Berkeley Virtual Network Symposium (via Zoom).
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August 5, 2020—I gave a talk entitled "Social Networks and Rural-Urban Cognitive Health Disparities" at the Interdisciplinary Network on Rural Population Health and Aging annual meeting (via Zoom).
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July 16, 2020—I presented a paper entitled "Network Recall Among Older Adults with Cognitive Impairments" at the Sunbelt Virtual Conference (via Zoom).
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July 9, 2020—My article "Social Networks and Health in Later Life: A State of the Literature" is now online at Sociology of Health & Illness.
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April 28, 2020—My article "Informal Caregiving and Social Capital: A Social Network Perspective" is now online at Research on Aging.
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February 29, 2020—My proposal to study social networks and rural-urban cognitive health disparities has been funded by the Interdisciplinary Network on Rural Population Health and Aging.
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November 20, 2019—My article "Characteristics of Place and the Rural Disadvantage in Deaths from Highly Preventable Causes" is now online at Social Science & Medicine.
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August 1, 2019—I have officially started my new appointment as a research fellow at Indiana University.
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June 19, 2019—I successfully defended my dissertation entitled "Caregiving and Personal Networks: Implications for Health and Well-being in Later Life."
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April 11-13, 2019—I presented a paper entitled "Disparities in Highly Preventable Deaths by Rurality" (co-authored with Justin Denney) at the Population Association of America annual meeting in Austin, Texas.
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November 22, 2018—My article "Informal Caregiving and Network Turnover Among Older Adults" is now online at the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences.
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November 2, 2018—I spoke at Washington State University's Sociology Colloquium Series in Pullman, WA. (See video below)
