Assistant Professor of Population Studies (Research)

Overview

Meghan Zacher is an Assistant Professor (Research) of Population Studies at Brown University whose research focuses on the social determinants of population health, often engaging a life course and biosocial perspective. Currently, Dr. Zacher is studying the demography of dementia, which is poised to become one of most pressing health issues of the 21st century. Her ongoing projects aim to document variation in risk for dementia by sex or gender, by education, over time, and across places within the United States. More broadly, Dr. Zacher takes interest in the early, middle, and later life exposures that may be relevant to the development of dementia, and in how societal changes may impact dementia patterns and trends. For this work, Dr. Zacher is supported by a K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institute on Aging. In addition, Dr. Zacher is currently involved in research on women’s health and sex/gender health disparities, and is investigating the long-term and intergenerational effects of disasters on well-being with the Resilience in Survivors of Katrina study. Previously, Dr. Zacher studied biomarkers of genetic risk, and tobacco use in Australia.

Dr. Zacher received her PhD in Sociology from Harvard University in 2019.

Brown Affiliations

Research Areas