Jennifer Karas Montez | Co-Director
Jennifer Karas Montez is a Professor of Sociology, the Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies, and a 2018-2020 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. She received her PhD in Sociology with a Demography Specialization from the University of Texas at Austin and did her postdoctoral training as a Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar at Harvard University.
Her research examines the large and growing gaps in life expectancy among US adults and how changes in US state policies have contributed to those gaps. She is particularly interested in why the trends in life expectancy have been most troubling for women, adults with low levels of formal education, and the Southern and Midwestern parts of the country.
Email Jennifer: jmontez@syr.edu
Shannon Monnat | Co-Director
Shannon Monnat is a Professor of Sociology, Director of the Center for Policy Research, and the Lerner Chair in Public Health Promotion and Population Health. She received her PhD in Sociology at the State University of New York at Albany. Monnat is a demographer and population health scholar whose research examines trends and geographic differences in health mortality, with a special interest in rural health and health disparities. She is a leading national expert on structural and spatial determinants of drug overdose, particularly as they related to understanding why overdose rates are higher in some places than others. Her most recent research has focused on rural-urban differences in COVID-19 mortality rates, vaccination rates, and perceived impacts of wellbeing.
Email Shannon: smmonnat@syr.edu
Janet Wilmoth | Director, Aging Studies Institute
Janet Wilmoth has a Ph.D. in Sociology and Demography, with a minor in Gerontology, from the Pennsylvania State University. She is a Professor and Chair of Sociology, Director of the Aging Studies Institute, Senior Research Affiliate in the Center for Policy Research, and Senior Fellow in the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University. She has published in the areas of older adult migration, living arrangements, and health status. Her recent research explores how military service shapes various life course outcomes related to marriage and family, economic well-being, and disability. Her research has received funding from the National Institute on Aging, the Social Security Administration, and the National Poverty Center. Professor Wilmoth has authored over 75 articles and book chapters, coedited Gerontology: Perspectives and Issues, 3rd and 4th Editions, Life Course Perspectives on Military Service, Later-Life Social Support and Service Provision in Diverse and Vulnerable Populations, and Life-Course Implications of U.S. Public Policy, and served as an Associate Editor for the Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences. 8th and 9th Editions.
Email Janet: jwilmoth@syr.edu
Postdoctoral Scholars and Graduate Students
Mariah Brennan Nanni | PhD Student
Mariah Brennan Nanni is a PhD student in the Social Science program at Syracuse University. She previously attended the University of Connecticut where she received her Master of Public Administration in 2019. Her research interests include population health trends disparities, specifically for vulnerable populations. Mariah is currently working on her dissertation, which is focused on gender differences in veteran health and employment needs during the reintegration process.
Email Mariah: mbrenn06@syr.edu
Julene Kemp Cooney | PhD Student
Julene Cooney is a PhD student in Sociology at Syracuse University. She has earned both an MS in Statistics from Brigham Young University and an MA in Community and Economic Development with a Certificate in Workforce Development from SUNY Empire State.
She is researching the effects that education has on the physical and mental health of US women and their children throughout the life course. She is particularly interested in the protective effects that advanced education might have on premature mortality as a result of drug abuse, domestic violence and/or suicide.
Julene is returning to scholarly pursuits after a fruitful career split between the manufacturing sector, the education sector, and an extended sabbatical during which she raised and launched three children into society.
Email Julene: jkcooney@syr.edu
Qiyu Deng | PhD Student
Qiya Deng is a Ph.D. student in Sociology at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Cornell University and a Bachelor’s in Management from Nanjing Audit University. Her research focuses on global population aging and social determinants of health. She is particularly interested in how social and built environments influence health and well-being across the lifespan.
Email Qiyu: qdeng06@syr.edu
Julia Finan | PhD Student
Julia Finan is a Sociology PhD student at Syracuse University. She has received a B.A. in Psychology at Rutgers Unversity-New Brunswick. Julia is interested in social determinants of health and how the influence disparities in health outcomes. Her most recent research has focused on mortality differences among those with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Email Julia: jfinan@syr.edu
Joshua Grove | PhD Student
Joshua Grove is a PhD student in the department of Sociology. He is interested in mental health and substance use, including geographic disparities in drug overdose mortality rates. He has graduate degrees in both sociology and religion. Prior to coming to Syracuse, Joshua was a pastor and worked with people diagnosed with substance use disorder.
Email Joshua: jggrove@syr.edu
Tori-Ann Haywood | PhD Student
Tori-Ann is a first year student in the Department of Sociology at Syracuse University. She has earned both a B.A. and a M.P.A from the City College of New York.
After a short and rewarding career in project management , she has returned to academia. Her research interests include public policy’s effects on the population’s health, including the disparity in health depending on location, age disability, race and socio-economic class.
Email Tori-Ann: tchaywoo@syr.edu
Nastassia Vaitsiakhovich | PhD Student
Nastassia is a Ph.D. candidate in the Sociology Department. She earned her M.S. in Sociology from the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Russia and her B.A. in Sociology from Belarussian State University in Belarus. Her research focuses on health and mortality outcomes among adults with disabilities and disability measurement.
Before Joining Syracuse University, Nastassia interned with the International Disability Alliance – a nonprofit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. During the internship, Nastassia supported research on various topics, including alternative care for children with disabilities, employment of persons with disabilities, and social problems of indigenous women with disabilities.
Email Nastassia: nivaitsi@syr.edu
Nastassia’s Google Scholar Page
P3H Alumni
Yue Sun (2017-2024). Postdoctoral Associate in the Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado-Boulder
Xue Zhang (2022-2024). Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University.
Kent Jason Cheng (2018-2023). T32 Postdoctoral Fellow, Pennsylvania State University
Nader Mehri (2020-2022). Statistician, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Claire Pendergrast (2019-2022). HCBS Researcher, Mathematica
Danielle Rhubart (2020-2021). Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University
Jennifer D. Brooks (2017-2021). Research Associate, Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, Cornell University
Blakelee Kemp (2018-2020). Assistant Professor, Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Sarah Mawhorter (2018-2019). Assistant Professor of Housing, University of Groningen