People – Page 2 – Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies

Philipp Hessel

Former Bell Fellow

HCPDS

Philipp Hessel, PhD, received his doctorate from the London School of Economics, where he completed a dissertation examining how exposure to macroeconomic shocks during different and potentially sensitive life-course periods affects health at later–life. His research combines demography, public health, and gerontology and employs cross-national data from Europe and the US. Philipp’s work was recently (jointly) awarded the Kalish Innovative Publication Award by the Gerontological Society of America. As a Bell…

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Lindsay Kobayashi

Former Bell Fellow

HCPDS

Lindsay Kobayashi is a social epidemiologist whose work draws from behavioral science to examine health-related outcomes in aging populations. She received her PhD from University College London, where she investigated aging-related changes to literacy skills and the influence of literacy on health-promoting behaviors in older English adults. As a Bell Fellow, she continued this line of work by framing cognitive function, literacy, and technological capital within the societal determinants of…

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Collin Payne

Former Bell Fellow

HCPDS

Collin Payne’s research integrates approaches from demography, epidemiology, sociology, and biostatistics to improve empirical and theoretical models of population health in low-resource contexts. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, where his dissertation focused on the health of aging populations in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. As a Bell Fellow, Collin studied how the HIV epidemic and the introduction of new treatments impacted population health, economic activity, and family…

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Natalia Rigol

Former Bell Fellow

HCPDS

Natalia Rigol holds a doctorate in economics from MIT. Her work explores how the design, targeting, and delivery of financial products can be optimized to empower women, specifically in India. Natalia’s academic background in development economics and gender issues is supplemented by her extensive experience in designing and leading field studies in India. As a Bell Fellow, she continued to integrate insights from social and medical sciences with economic theory to…

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Molly Rosenberg

Former Bell Fellow

HCPDS

Molly Rosenberg, PhD, is an epidemiologist who studies how social, structural, and economic factors influence sexual health outcomes. Molly holds a PhD from the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MPH from the Yale School of Public Health. Molly’s dissertation examined how the sexual health outcomes of rural South African adolescents are linked to the adolescents’ association with two very different places: school and alcohol outlets. As a Bell…

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Nikkil Sudharsanan

Former Bell Fellow

HCPDS

Nikkil Sudharsanan is a population health scientist whose research combines demography, epidemiology, and economics to study adult health and aging in developing countries. He earned a PhD in demography and an MA in statistics from the University of Pennsylvania. Nikkil’s research is motivated by two questions: why do individuals in some populations live shorter and unhealthier lives than others; and why are investments in preventive health low in developing countries?…

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Lisa Berkman, PhD

Director

HCPDS

lberkman@hsph.harvard.edu

Lisa F. Berkman is the director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies (HCPDS), and the Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard Chan School). Berkman is an internationally recognized social epidemiologist whose extensive work has focused on social and policy influences on health outcomes. She is noted for identifying the effects of social networks on…

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Jason Beckfield, PhD

Associate Director

HCPDS

jwb@fas.harvard.edu

Jason Beckfield is the associate director of HCPDS, and the Robert G. Stone, Jr. Professor of Sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. He served as chair of the Sociology Department from 2017 to 2020. Conceptually, Beckfield is interested in how social and political institutions shape structures of inequality, both within and between national societies. He deploys comparative research methods to capitalize on and investigate the…

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Laura Price

Deputy Director

HCPDS

lprice@hsph.harvard.edu

Laura is responsible for overseeing operations, administration, finance, communications, training programs and seminars/events. Laura also works closely with the Center director and stakeholders in setting programmatic goals, building strategic partnerships both domestically and internationally, and disseminating the work and accomplishments of the Center. She has over 25 years experience in project management, marketing, and development at both Harvard and other academic institutions.

S. Bryn Austin, ScD

Professor

Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

S. Bryn Austin is professor of social and behavioral sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School; a member of the research faculty in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital; and director of the Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders: A Public Health Incubator. She is also the founder of the Sexual Orientation,…

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