People

Hoda S. Abdel Magid Assistant Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences and Spatial Sciences. Her research examines how place and social determinants of health influence chronic disease and health disparities, particularly among socially and racially marginalized communities. She integrates electronic health records, survey, and geographic data using spatial epidemiology and GIS methods to better understand and reduce place-based health inequities.
hmagid@usc.edu | more info

Emma Aguila Associate Professor at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. Her research examines the relationship between socioeconomic status and health, with a focus on how social security and social insurance programs can improve the well-being of vulnerable middle-aged and older adults. Dr. Aguila has extensive experience designing and implementing field experiments and longitudinal surveys. She led a randomized control trial evaluating the impact of a non-contributory pension program in the State of Yucatán, Mexico, and serves as Co-Investigator of the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS).
eaguilav@usc.edu | more info

Thalida Em Arpawong Associate Professor of Gerontology at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Her research focuses on how genetic, biological, and social factors interact to shape psychosocial and cognitive health across the life course, with particular attention to risk and resilience processes in aging.
arpawong@usc.edu | more info

Christopher Beam Associate Professor of Psychology and Gerontology. He is a clinical psychologist specializing in life-span development, behavioral genetics, and advanced quantitative methods, with research focused on how early-life development predicts midlife cognition and preclinical Alzheimer’s risk, as well as how loneliness in later life relates to dementia. Clinically, he works on geropsychological interventions for older adults and serves as faculty in the Gerontological Workforce Enhancement Program at USC Keck.
beamc@usc.edu | more info

Bérénice Benayoun Associate Professor of Gerontology, Biological Sciences and Cancer Biology and Pharmacology & Pharmaceutical Sciences. Her research examines how aging reshapes the epigenome and transcriptome, including the influence of biological sex, using models such as the naturally short-lived African turquoise killifish. Her work explores how age-related chromatin and gene regulation changes affect cellular identity and the biology of aging.
bbenayou@usc.edu| more info

Daniel Benjamin Professor with joint appointments at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and the Department of Human Genetics at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. He is a co-founder and co-director of the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium (SSGAC), a multidisciplinary collaboration between geneticists and social scientists. His research in genoeconomics develops methods for integrating genomic data into the social sciences. His work spans statistical reasoning and decision-making, the measurement of subjective well-being for evaluating public policy, and the identification of genetic variants associated with outcomes such as educational attainment and well-being. His earlier research examined links between economic behavior, cognitive ability, and social identity, including ethnicity, race, gender, and religion.
djbenjam@usc.edu | More Info

Arleen Brown General internist and health services researcher whose work focuses on quality of care for older adults and racial/ethnic minority populations living with diabetes. Her research examines health system, social, and individual determinants of health for people with diabetes, and she has led major projects funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to evaluate the quality of diabetes care in both fee-for-service and managed care settings.
abrown@mednet.ucla.edu | more info

Lauren Brown Assistant Professor of Gerontology. Dr. Brown’s research examines biopsychosocial processes of aging among Black Americans, focusing on how stress shapes physical and psychological health while highlighting resilience, agency, and heterogeneity in later life. Using quantitative methods and publicly available data, her work also critically evaluates measurement and sampling approaches to more accurately represent the aging experiences of Black communities.
laurenlb@usc.edu | more info

Judith Carroll George F. Solomon Professor of Psychobiology at UCLA. Her research investigates how behavioral and psychosocial factors such as insomnia, depression, anxiety, and stress influence biological aging processes at both systemic and cellular levels, and how these processes contribute to vulnerability for diseases of aging, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Carroll’s work has been supported by an American Cancer Society Research Scholars Grant to examine biobehavioral influences, including insomnia and depression, on accelerated biological aging in breast cancer survivors.
carrollje@ucla.edu | more info

Dora Costa Professor of Economics at UCLA whose research spans labor economics, demography, and health across American economic history, examining topics such as retirement, aging, mortality, and long-term population health trends. Her work compares past and present patterns to better understand social and economic change, and she is the author of The Evolution of Retirement and Cowards and Heroes.
costa@econ.ucla.edu | more info

Sean Curran Professor and Vice Dean at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and co-director of the USC-Buck Nathan Shock Center, where he also founded the PhD in Geroscience program. His research investigates genetic, molecular, and environmental factors that shape health across the lifespan, with the goal of predicting personalized strategies to optimize healthy aging.
spcurran@usc.edu | more info

Kacie Deters Assistant Professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology. She is a neuroscientist whose research focuses on health equity in cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease, particularly among older Black adults. Trained in genetic and imaging biomarkers of tauopathies, her work examines racial and ethnic disparities in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
kdeters@g.ucla.edu | more info

Mirella Díaz-Santos Assistant Professor of Neurology. She is a is a clinical neuropsychologist whose research focuses on Alzheimer’s disease in Latinx communities, examining bilingualism as a source of cognitive reserve and addressing barriers to research participation. She leads outreach and community-engaged programs aimed at improving culturally and linguistically responsive dementia education and increasing inclusion in neuroscience research.
MDiazSantos@mednet.ucla.edu | more info

Teal S. Eich Associate Professor of Gerontology and Psychology. Dr. Eich is a cognitive neuroscientist whose research examines age-related changes in executive function, particularly the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive inhibition. Using behavioral testing and structural and functional MRI, she studies how brain changes influence inhibitory control in younger and older adults, including those at risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
teich@usc.edu | more info

Brian Finch Senior Social Demographer and Professor (Research) of Sociology and Spatial Sciences at USC. His interdisciplinary research bridges social demography, social epidemiology, and medical sociology to explore health disparities, social genomic influences on population health, and the relationships among social environments, behavior, and well-being.
brian.finch@usc.edu | more info

Molly Fox Associate Professor. She is a biological anthropologist whose research examines the evolutionary and biosocial roots of chronic disease, focusing on how maternal and grandmaternal factors shape health across generations. Integrating molecular, clinical, epidemiologic, and anthropological approaches, her work explores topics including immigration-related stress, postpartum depression, the infant microbiome, and how pregnancy and lactation influence long-term disease risk, including Alzheimer’s.
mollyfox@anthro.ucla.edu | more info

Titus Galama Associate Professor (Research) of Economics. He is is an economist at USC and director of the CESR Center for the Study of Human Capital whose research examines the drivers of human capital formation using economic and social-science genetics approaches. Originally trained as an award-winning astrophysicist, his interdisciplinary career spans physics, business, policy analysis, and economics, with appointments in both the U.S. and the Netherlands.
galama@usc.edu | more info

Dana Goldman University Professor of Public Policy, Pharmacy, and Economics at the University of Southern California and the Leonard D. Schaeffer Director of the USC Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service. His research expertise spans health economics and finance, health policy, the role of prevention in healthcare, healthcare reform, pharmaceutical regulation and innovation, precision medicine, and the value of delayed aging.
dpgoldma@usc.edu | more info

Eleanor Hayes-Larson Assistant Professor of Gerontology. She is an epidemiologist whose research integrates social, psychiatric, and neuroepidemiology to examine lifecourse determinants of cognitive decline and dementia disparities in diverse populations. She also conducts methodological research to strengthen causal inference and improve the generalizability of findings in cognitive aging studies.
hayeslar@usc.edu | more info

Patrick Heuveline Professor of Sociology at UCLA. His research spans demographic and population modeling, the historical and political consequences of demographic change, family and child well-being, and issues of social justice and advocacy.
heuveline@soc.ucla.edu  | more info

Andrei Irimia Associate Professor of Gerontology, Quantitative & Computational Biology, Biomedical Engineering, and Neuroscience at USC. A biogerontologist and computational neurobiologist, his research focuses on how genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors influence brain aging and vulnerability to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). His laboratory uses interpretable deep learning, genomics, and brain imaging to identify and characterize novel risk factors for ADRD. Dr. Irimia also studies accelerated aging, neurovascular calcification, and brain injury as contributors to dementia risk.
irimia@usc.edu | more info

Michael Irwin Norman Cousins Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Professor of Psychology in the UCLA College of Letters and Sciences, and Director of the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology in the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. He is a leading expert on psychoneuroimmunology — the study of how psychosocial and behavioral factors influence immune function, health, and disease through neurobiological and immunological pathways.
mirwin1@ucla.edu | more info

Arie Kapteyn Professor of Economics and the Executive Director of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences’ Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) at the University of Southern California. His recent applied research focuses on aging and economic decision making, including retirement behavior, consumption and savings, pensions and Social Security, disability, economic well-being in later life, and portfolio choice.
kapteyn@dornsife.usc.edu | more info

Arun Karlamangla Chief of Geriatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a Professor of Medicine – Geriatrics. He is a clinician-scientist whose research focuses on aging and geriatric care, including the biological and psychosocial determinants of health in older adults, mechanisms of age-related disease, and strategies to improve health outcomes and quality of life in geriatric populations.
akarlamangla@mednet.ucla.edu | more info

Jung Ki Kim Research Associate Professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. She holds a PhD in Gerontology/Public Policy from the University of Southern California and dual master’s degrees in Gerontology and Social Work. Her research expertise spans big data analysis, social determinants of health and health disparities, and biodemography, with a focus on understanding how social and demographic factors shape health and aging outcomes.
jungk@usc.edu | more info

Jinkook Lee Director of the Program on Global Aging, Health, and Policy and Professor (Research) of Economics. She is the PI of LASI-DAD a study of dementia among older Indians. She heads the Gateway to Global Aging and the Gateway Exposome Coordinating Center (GECC) For AD/ADRD Research.
jinkook.Lee@usc.edu | more info

Adriana Lleras-Muney Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at UCLA. Her research examines the relationships between socioeconomic status and health, with a particular focus on education, income and policy.
alleras@econ.ucla.edu | more info

James Macinko Professor of Health Policy and Management and Community Health Sciences whose research focuses on global health, health system performance, and the impact of policy reforms on health equity. His work evaluates how health policies and services influence population health and reduce inequities, with funding from major national and international agencies.
jmacinko@ucla.edu | more info

Mara Mather Professor of Gerontology and Psychology at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Her research focuses on aging and affective neuroscience, examining how emotion and stress influence memory, decision-making, and cognitive processes in later life.
mara.mather@usc.edu | more info

Elizabeth Rose Mayeda Associate Professor of Epidemiology. Her research focuses on dementia epidemiology and advanced quantitative methods, particularly addressing methodological challenges such as selection bias. Her work aims to identify population-level dementia prevention strategies and strengthen causal inference in lifecourse and cognitive aging research.
mayeda@ucla.edu | more info

Kathleen McGarry Professor of Economics at UCLA and a Research Associate at the NBER. McGarry’s research focuses on the well-being of the elderly with particular attention paid to public and private transfers, including the Medicare and SSI programs and the transfer of resources within families.
mcgarry@ucla.edu | more info

Emma Nichols She is a Research Scientist at USC’s Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research whose work focuses on cognitive aging and dementia, with an emphasis on methodological challenges in studies of older adults. Her current research centers on international aging cohorts and cross-national comparisons.
emmanich@usc.edu | more info

Roch A. Nianogo He is an epidemiologist and physician-scientist at UCLA whose research develops and applies advanced causal inference, econometric, and computational modeling methods to evaluate interventions for preventing chronic diseases and reducing health disparities. His work spans cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and dementia, with a focus on translating rigorous evidence into effective public health and policy action.
niaroch@ucla.edu | more info

Keith C. Norris Dr. Keith C. Norris is a clinician-scientist and health policy leader at UCLA whose work has shaped national guidelines and performance measures for chronic kidney disease, particularly in underserved populations. His research focuses on hypertension, CKD, and health disparities, and he has led major NIH-funded initiatives advancing community-engaged research and diversity in the biomedical workforce.
kcnorris@mednet.ucla.edu | more info

Kimberly Paul She is an epidemiologist whose research focuses on Parkinson’s disease, examining how environmental exposures and genetic susceptibility interact to drive neurodegeneration. Using systems biology approaches, her lab studies metabolomic and methylation profiles to identify biological pathways linked to exposure and disease risk, with the goal of informing prevention and targeted interventions.
kpaul@mednet.ucla.edu | more info

Beate Ritz Professor of Epidemiology at UCLA with appointments in Environmental Health and Neurology, and a leader in Parkinson’s disease research, including gene-environment studies and environmental health science. Trained in medicine, medical sociology, and epidemiology, she serves in multiple leadership roles, including Interim Director of the APDA Center of Excellence in Parkinson’s Disease Research.
britz@ucla.edu | more info

Teresa Seeman Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at UCLA whose research examines how social and psychological factors influence health and aging through biological pathways. A pioneer in the study of allostatic load, her work explores how life-course stress and protective factors shape cumulative biological risk, cognitive and physical decline, and longevity.
tseeman@mednet.ucla.edu | more info

Ben Seligman Physician scientist whose research integrates demography, epidemiology, and machine learning to examine how social and biological determinants, including genetics and epigenetics, shape aging, mortality, and population health trends. Clinically, he focuses on internal medicine and geriatrics, caring for medically complex patients, and is also engaged in global health exchange and diplomacy.
bseligman@mednet.ucla.edu | more info

Arthur Stone Professor of Psychology, Economics and Health Policy and Management. Trained as a clinical psychologist and is currently professor of Psychology and director of the Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science at the University of Southern California. He is also Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University.
arthuras@usc.edu | more info

John Strauss Professor of Economics. Economics of the Household, Human Resource Investments and Labor Market Outcomes, Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS) and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.
jstrauss@usc.edu | more info

Arthur Toga Provost Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology, Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences, Radiology, Engineering and Quantitative and Computational Biology. He is interested in the development of new algorithms and the computer science aspects important to neuroimaging. New visualization techniques and statistical measurement are employed in the study of morphometric variability in humans, subhuman primates and rodents.
toga@usc.edu | more info

Jon Wanagat HS Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA specializing in geriatrics, with research focused on aging-related muscle decline, sarcopenia, mitochondrial dysfunction, and muscle stem cells. His work advances understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying age-related loss of muscle function.
jwanagat@mednet.ucla.edu | more info

Zuo-Feng Zhang Professor of Epidemiology at UCLA and a leader in molecular and cancer epidemiology, serving as Co-Director of the UCLA Center for Environment Genomics and Scientific Director of the UCLA Central Tumor Registry. His work spans cancer prevention and global health, with extensive leadership roles in NIH study sections and international public health initiatives.
zfzhang@ucla.edu | more info