Lisa Berkman, Ph.D., is Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and of Epidemiology and Director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies at the Harvard School of Public Health. She is also a Gallup Senior Scientist.

Dr. Berkman is an epidemiologist whose work focuses extensively on social influences on health and aging. Her research has been oriented toward understanding social inequalities in health related to socioeconomic status, different racial and ethnic groups, social networks, and social isolation. Much of her current work relates to work/family policies and to understanding how work organization and redesign can improve employee and family health and wellbeing while at the same time improving corporate outcomes.

As many countries face demographic transitions that result in "aging societies," new ways of work and social participation need to be identified. Dr. Berkman is committed to identifying evidence-based policies that have the potential to improve population health. Berkman has been an innovator in developing the field of social epidemiology and has edited (with Ichiro Kawachi) the field's first textbook, Social Epidemiology (2000).

Dr. Berkman received her bachelor's degree in sociology from Northwestern University. She received her master's degree and doctorate in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine, has served on numerous National Academy of Sciences panels, is a member of the National Advisory Council on Aging, and is past president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research.

Learn More

• Dr. Berkman's website: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/faculty/lisa-berkman/