I am currently a doctoral candidate in sociology at UNC-Chapel Hill, and a biosocial trainee at the Carolina Population Center. Starting in the summer of 2023, I will be a postdoctoral researcher at the Duke Aging Center in the Duke University School of Medicine.
My research program bridges a variety of substantive topics and disciplinary boundaries, including medical sociology, population health disparities, stress processes, aging and the life course, neighborhoods, structural racism, and religion/spirituality. My studies also analyze a variety of quantitative data sources like surveys, biomarkers, and contextual data. Still, my research centers on one through-line: the social origins and consequences of human suffering, illness, and resiliency.
My studies have been published in peer-reviewed outlets such as Social Forces, Demography, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Society and Mental Health, Race and Justice, Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, and Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, among others. My studies have also been featured in New York Times, Psychology Today, Christianity Today, and Newsweek.
When I'm not working, I'm cooking and writing music with my partner, Allison, and taking walks with our rescue mutt, Stewart. In past lives, I drummed and toured in punk bands, worked as a line cook in commercial kitchens, and studied philosophy.