Jennifer A. Ailshire, PhD
Fellow, USC Schaeffer CenterAssistant Professor, USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
2014-2015 RCMAR Scientist, USC Schaeffer Center
Jennifer A. Ailshire, PhD's contact information
Jennifer A. Ailshire, PhD's Bio
Jennifer A. Ailshire is a National Institute of Aging postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Biodemography and Population Health and the Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of Southern California. She received her PhD in sociology, with training in demography, from the University of Michigan in 2009.
She recently received a National Institutes of Health Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) to pursue research on neighborhoods and health and aging and is currently gaining additional training in major organ system function and the pathophysiology of adult disease as well as the use of biomeasures for identifying risk for dysfunction in key biological systems.
Ailshire's research addresses questions that lie at the intersections of social stratification, urban sociology and the sociology of health and aging. In particular, she focuses on the importance of the neighborhood environment and social relationships in determining health over the life course. A consistent theme throughout her work is an interest in gender, socioeconomic, racial and ethnic inequality in health.
Current projects include research on social factors associated with poor sleep; neighborhood determinants of racial and ethnic disparities in obesity; associations between the neighborhood environment and disability, social participation and cognition among older adults; unequal exposure to particulate air pollution and consequences for cognitive function, inflammation and lung function; and the social, psychosocial and health correlates of exceptional longevity among U.S. adults.
