Ruijia Chen, ScD
I am a social epidemiologist studying how social and policy contexts shape cognitive aging and dementia. I am currently a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health and will be joining the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Fall 2026.
My research combines social epidemiology with advanced quantitative methods to examine how social disadvantage, including financial strain, discrimination, and social isolation, affects cognitive health. I use big data, causal inference approaches, and cross-national comparisons to identify drivers of disparities and inform policy solutions. See my Research page for current projects.
I received my ScD in Social Epidemiology from Harvard University and my MS in Social Policy from the University of Pennsylvania. I completed the first two years of my postdoctoral training in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF.
News
- 2026 — New paper in The Journals of Gerontology: Series A on social isolation and functional impairment trajectories (first author: LP Rojas-Saunero)
- Aug 2025 — New paper in American Journal of Epidemiology on the social exposome and cognitive aging
- 2025 — New paper in The Journals of Gerontology: Series A on population-level impact of insomnia on dementia (first author: Y Lin; senior author)
- 2025 — New paper in GeroScience on grip strength as a marker for cognitive function and neurodegeneration (first author: AIB Posis)
- 2025 — New paper in American Journal of Epidemiology on estimating effects of hypothetical public health interventions on health disparities (first author: X Wang)
- 2025 — New paper in American Journal of Epidemiology on Alzheimer’s disease genetic risk and social connectedness (co-first author with SC Zimmerman)
- 2025 — Incoming tenure-track Assistant Professor, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health (starting Fall 2026)
- May 2025 — K99/R00 award from NIA for research on poverty alleviation policies and ADRD
- 2024 — New paper in Alzheimer’s & Dementia (TRCI) on sleep quality, sleep apnea, and cognitive function