IPR - Institute for Policy Research - Northwestern University

Social Disparities and Health
< Biomarker Training
A nationally recognized center of biomarker training
and methodological development, C2S held its third
summer biomarker institute from June 9 to 11,
welcoming 28 participants. The three co-organizers—
McDade, Adam, and Kuzawa—emphasized biological
theory and methodology in this year’s session with a
daylong introduction to biology’s role in the social
sciences, in addition to hands-on training on salivary
and blood spot biomarkers. Freese led a module on
the integration and analysis of genetic data into survey
research.
Diane Lauderdale gives a colloquium
talk on sleep and obesity.
< Colloquium Series
C2S has continued its efforts to
foster a community of scholars
interested in multidisciplinary
research on how social, economic,
and cultural factors “get under
the skin” and influence the
pathways and processes of human
development, health, and wellbeing.
To this end, C2S brings
researchers and practitioners
together through its colloquia.
Six talks were held on topics,
such as the epidemiological
evidence for obesity and sleep
by Diane Lauderdale of the
University of Chicago.
< Health and Attainment Over the Lifecourse
More than 100 researchers, policymakers, foundation
leaders, and postdoctoral and doctoral students attended
the May 16 conference “Health and Attainment Over
the Lifecourse: Reciprocal Pathways from Before Birth
to Old Age.” The conference brought together experts
from diverse disciplines to address complex linkages
between health and human capital over time. Both are
seen as lifelong processes, but too often, research on
attainment and health has developed in separate silos.
Scholars from demography, anthropology, sociology,
economics, developmental psychology, and molecular
genetics participated, including several C2S faculty.
C2S was co-sponsor of the conference.
< Seed Grant Program
C2S awarded six seed grants over the academic year
to the center’s tenure-track and research faculty for
projects integrating the social sciences with the life
or biomedical sciences. In March 2008, the center
also launched a Student Research Grant program
for students conducting dissertations or doing
postdoctoral research.
< New Graduate Training Program
Northwestern Graduate School’s Interdisciplinary
Cluster Initiative recently provided funding for a
graduate training program in society, biology, and
health in conjunction with C2S. The program
will allow graduate students to pursue a formalized
course of study on the topic starting in 2009–10 with
19 faculty affiliates. Led by McDade, the cluster is
aligned with C2S initiatives and will provide a roadmap
for graduate students in the quantitative social sciences
who are interested in integrative, community-based
research on human biology and health.
< Postdoctoral Fellows and Graduate Students
C2S’ first postdoctoral fellows have graduated and
obtained key positions in postdoctoral fellowship
programs or as faculty members. Sophie Trawalter,
who studies racial interaction and student stress and
development, will join the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill in July 2008 as an assistant professor
of psychology. Julienne Rutherford, an anthropologist
who studies the role of the placenta in maternal ecology,
fetal development, and health outcomes, will take up
a position as an assistant professor at the University of
Illinois at Chicago in August 2009. Elizabeth Sweet,
who obtained her PhD in anthropology, became a
Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Fellow at
Harvard University in fall 2008. Laura Chyu, who
holds a PhD in public health from the University
of California, Los Angeles, joined C2S in fall 2008
as a postdoctoral fellow. She is examining how the
dynamic interplay of biological and social factors affects
health over the lifecourse. Graduate student Chelsea
McKinney, who is completing her doctorate in human
development and social policy, was awarded an NICHD
Diversity Supplement.
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