Daniel Belsky, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University, will review data from US, UK, and New Zealand cohorts to test how proposed quantifications of biological aging are related to other indicators of healthy lifespan. He also tests if different approaches to quantification of biological aging measure the same underlying construct, and if measured biological aging is modified in a randomized trial of caloric restriction, an intervention known to extend healthy lifespan in animals. Results suggest new directions for population health science and offer evidence for an approach to accelerating development of interventions to extend healthy lifespan.

Please visit the seminar page to reserve a time to meet with Professor Belsky.

CSDE Affiliate Jane Lee, Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work, is hosting Susan Cassels, Associate Professor of Geography and Research Associate in the Broom Center for Demography at the University of California-Santa Barbara, for a seminar on 5/21/2019, 11:00 AM-12:30 PM. Students are welcome to join Prof. Cassels for a luncheon following the seminar, at 12:30-1:30 PM (RSVP to Chloe at clotilde@uw.edu).

Lee is hosting this seminar as part of a CSDE seed grant, which can be used to convene field experts and consultants. Learn more and apply to a CSDE seed grant here!

(read more)

CSDE’s Biodemography Director Ellie Brindle will serve as a biomarker consultant for the Demographic and Health Surveys 8th wave. Since 1984, the USAID-funded DHS Program has provided countries with technical support for implementing hundreds of household surveys in over 90 countries. USAID contracts with ICF International to implement the DHS Program with additional technical assistance from partners including PATH. Ellie provided support for biomarker protocol development, field biomarker data collection training and laboratory training for the previous wave.

Last week, CSDE Affiliate Ann Bostrom, Weyerhaeuser Endowed Professor in Environmental Policy at the Evans School, gave a Distinguished Lecture in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences at the National Science Foundation. Bostrom discussed how the effectiveness and costs of policies to slow or stop climate change should, for a rational actor, influence policy preferences, but that research on risk perceptions and decision making suggests that emotional responses to climate change may be as, or more, important.

The School Public Health recently published a story on CSDE Fellow Alumna Brianna Mills and her innovative research on firearm assault injuries by residence and injury occurrence location. The study, published in Injury Prevention, was part of Mills’ Epidemiology doctoral dissertation and was supported by CSDE’s Shanahan Fellowship. Mills, a research scientist at the Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center, found that nearly three-quarters of firearm injuries and deaths in King County occurred beyond the immediate area surrounding the victim’s home.

(read more)

The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) at NIH is seeking to create a list of social science research accomplishments which have resulted in substantial health improvements or insights. Between now and July 31, 2019 any and all accomplishments can be submitted to OBSSR through this link. Don’t forget to copy csde@uw.edu so we can also promote your accomplishments!