Karl Pillemer

Hazel E. Reed Professor, Human Development, and Professor of Gerontology in Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine Link

Faculty Affiliate, Center for Aging and Policy Studies

CAPS Biography:

My research focuses on human development over the life course, with a special emphasis on family and social relationships in middle age and beyond. I have conducted major longitudinal studies of the determinants and consequences of the quality of adult child – older parent relationships; the nature and dynamics of family caregiving for impaired older relatives; and relationships between family members of residents with staff in long-term care facilities. Thus, my work aligns well with the Center for Aging and Policy Studies (CAPS) signature theme of family and intergenerational supports.  

I am also actively involved in intervention and translational research on pain in later life, exploring ways to speed the transfer of findings from basic research into scientifically tested interventions to prevent and treat this problem. I have conducted a career-long program of research on mistreatment of older people, including the first prevalence studies of the topic in domestic and institutional settings and investigations of violence and violent feelings in caregiving relationships. I have published several of the most highly cited articles in the field. I also conduct research on improving the quality of long-term care through staff training and development. I have 35 years of mentoring experience of postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty working in these areas. My research also contributes to the CAPS cross-cutting theme of specific populations with my emphasis on health disparities and inequity, examining, in particular, racial and ethnic differences in several domains. For the past three decades, I have worked to link social science and public health research through the NIA-funded Cornell University Roybal Center that involves collaboration between researchers in clinical geriatrics and social and behavioral scientists from over a dozen departments at Cornell. By fall of 2024, I had served for over 20 years as Director of the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging.