I'm delighted to share that I’ve been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure!
This would not have been possible without the generous support of my mentors, colleagues, friends, and family. Thank YOU all for your support. I am excited for a new journey ahead!!
The effect size is about 13-17% of the smoking-aging gap. Small per year, but aging compounds. And the associations extend beyond epigenetic aging to depression, anxiety, inflammation, and BMI. I am curious of your thoughts!
Paper: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “Negative social ties as emerging risk factors for accelerated aging, inflammation, and multimorbidity.” Explore the article here: https://ow.ly/V93x50YoKPE
For more trending articles, visit https://ow.ly/4yS050YoKPJ.
We are hiring a post-doc to study the impact of AI agents on complex social systems in Duke's Society-Centered AI Initiative and/or the Polarization Lab! Apply here:
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/314...
ASA members Byungkyu Lee @letitbk.bsky.social and Brea Perry have received lots of coverage @washingtonpost.com @nytimes.com for their recent study showing that difficult people in your social network might lead to faster biological aging. Here's a piece that's not paywalled: https://bit.ly/4dJsXwv.
Interestingly, family hasslers (parents, siblings, kids) showed the strongest effects on aging. Spouse hasslers? No significant association. Spousal conflict may be buffered by the mix of support and strain in those relationships -- family hasslers are harder to escape.
Happy to share our new paper published in PNAS!
Using epigenetic clocks and egocentric network data, we find each additional "hassler" in your close social network is associated with ~9 months of extra biological age and 1.5% faster pace of aging.
New postdoc position in Computational Social Science (80%) at the Institute of Sociology, University of Bern. Part of the Digital Society Lab.
Start April 2026.
Apply by Jan 31, 2026.
Official job posting: ohws.prospective.ch/public/v1/jo...
Hassler exposure isn't rare nor random. About 30% of people reported at least one hassler among their closest ties. Women, daily smokers, people in poorer health, and those with more adverse childhood experiences were more likely to report hasslers. Disadvantage clusters.