APC Fellows 2025-26

Suzanne Bell
Johns Hopkins University, Hopkins Population Center
I am a demographer committed to improving understanding of fertility and related behaviors at the population-level and evaluating factors (sociodemographic, psychosocial, structural) contributing to disparities in reproductive outcomes. My research is grounded in reproductive justice, a framework developed by Black women in the 1990s that emphasizes the human right to maintain bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent with safety and dignity. My work examines patterns of contraceptive use, induced abortion, and infertility. Within each of these domains I conduct methodological work related to improving the measurement of these phenomena, as well as substantive work intended for use by stakeholders across sectors.

Kelsea Best
Ohio State University, Institute for Population Research
My research focuses on understanding how climate change interacts with human societies and infrastructure, how people may adapt to climate change effects, and how climate adaptation measures can be designed and implemented in a just and equitable way. My work is interdisciplinary and strives to connect methods, disciplines, and researchers from across geographies and fields. My research is grounded in data-driven methods including machine learning and agent-based modeling, but also seeks to advance conventional modeling approaches by expanding the role of personal narrative and community participation in informing computational models.

Jennifer Brite
City University of New York, CUNY Institute of Demographic Research
I am an epidemiologist with training in demography. My recent work has focused on health disparities. Specifically, I have examined poverty and social and isolation at the time of death by tracking unclaimed deaths. I also lead an on-going research project that tracks disability claims in a 9/11-exposed cohort.

Matt Brooks
Florida State University, Center for Demography and Population Health
My area of expertise relates to the social and family demography and population health of the rural United States, and my research strives to understand the causes and consequences of population change on rural-urban disparities in health and well-being. Recent projects have examined the differential impacts of Medicaid expansion on mortality between rural and urban areas, the rise of cohabitation and nonmarital childbirth among rural women, and the changing relationship between family structure and child poverty among rural children. 

Jessica Finlay
University of Colorado-Boulder, CU Population Center
I am a health geographer and environmental gerontologist who uses mixed methods to investigate how built, social, and natural environments affect health, wellbeing, and quality of life. In particular, she focuses on aging in place and cognitive health. I also investigate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on neighborhood environments and health among aging Americans; and how extreme environmental events may pose dementia risk through social and behavioral pathways.

Rita X. Hu
University of Chicago, Population Research Center
I am a developmental scientist and social worker. My research and practice aims to combat ageism and foster an inclusive society for all ages. I examine how ageism is internalized and manifested across the lifespan, adversely impacting health, including cognitive decline. My current work focuses on understanding the intersectionality between age and other identities, life experiences, and social and physical environments. My work investigates the consequences of ageism on health and psychosocial well-being. I am also a licensed social worker with experience developing and evaluating culturally responsive services for older immigrant clients of Meals on Wheels and interventions to reduce social isolation among homebound older adults.

Betty Lin
University at Albany – State University of New York, Center for Social and Demographic Analysis
My research focuses on clarifying how ecological factors (e.g. stress, poverty, minority status) influence children’s social and emotional development beginning as early as the prenatal and early childhood years. I am especially interested in understanding (1) how early stress exposure may calibrate children’s developing stress response systems, (2) how children’s stress responsivity in turn may transact with child, family, cultural, and community factors to confer risk, resilience, and/or adaptation for child health, well-being, and development, and (3) how these processes may contribute to health disparities in disadvantaged populations. My research addresses how this stress responsivity may manifest behaviorally, such as in children’s temperament, and physiologically, such as in children’s sympathetic, parasympathetic, and adrenocortical responding. Ultimately, the goal of my research is to clarify the developmental processes that promote health and well-being in children with social disadvantage.

Patricia Louie
University of Washington, Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology
My research focuses on the role that social factors play in driving racial disparities in physical and mental health. In one stream of research, I focus on the role of stress and coping resources in explaining Black-White differences in mental health. In a second stream of research, I complicate how race is used as a variable in health disparities research by considering how different specifications of race (such as skin tone or disaggregated multiracial status) can influence how we understand race-health relationships.

Jess M. Meyer
University of Kansas, Kansas Population Center
I use a biosocial life course approach, integrating biological and social perspectives to understand social determinants of health over the life course. My research places a particular emphasis on social determinants of sleep and downstream consequences for health.

Jessica Pac
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Center for Demography and Ecology
My research broadly seeks to identify the optimal policy and program levers for ameliorating adulthood inequalities in health and human capital with a strong, substantive focus on the early identification and prevention of child abuse and neglect. My research broadly considers the ways in which social policies, work-family policies, and labor policies impact multiple dimensions of health and wellbeing, such as infant and maternal health, child safety, intimate partner violence, mortality, employment, earnings, and poverty.

Ryan Parsons
University of Mississippi, Center for Population Studies
My research considers how processes of urbanization and rural depopulation contribute to racial and ethnic stratification. Although past work has focused on rural southwest China, my current projects are based in the American South and Appalachia.

Haowei Wang
Syracuse University, Center for Aging and Policy Studies (CAPS)
My research focuses on understanding social determinants of healthy aging from a global perspective. I am actively engaged in three key areas of research: (1) investigating how demographic shifts and social policies shape physical and mental health across the life course, (2) investigating the transformation of family networks in a global context, and (3) examining how multiple dimensions of family relationships impact well-being and caregiving in later life.