Maria Glymour, ScD, MS
My research focuses on how social factors experienced across the lifecourse, from infancy to adulthood, influence cognitive function, dementia, stroke, and other health outcomes in old age. I am especially interested in education and other exposures amenable to policy interventions. Current cohorts of elderly in the US were exposed to profound social changes during the 20th century when we revolutionized access to high school. One thread of my research examines how changes in schooling laws and school quality in the 20th century might have influenced the health and cognitive functioning of current cohorts of elderly. My results suggest that extra schooling has substantial benefits for memory function in the elderly independent of any “innate” characteristics. I have also worked on the influence of "place" on health, for example to understand the excess stroke burden for individuals who grew up in the US Stroke Belt. With my colleague Dr. Adina Zeki Al-Hazzouri, I also have a grant evaluating the long term effects of migrating from Mexico to the US on cognitive outcomes and dementia risk. In a project with colleagues including Dr. Rachel Whitmer, we are developing a unique multi-ethnic cohort of older adults in Northern California, with a wealth of lifecourse biological and social data to offer insight into the reasons for racial/ethnic differences in Alzheimer's and dementia risk
