Anusha Vable is a social epidemiologist who studies how social and economic systems affect people’s health, especially as they age. She uses statistical tools from epidemiology and techniques developed in other disciplines, such as economics and genetics, to explore how factors such as education, income and job type over the life course influence health outcomes. 

Her research focuses on how social and economic conditions — such as access to education or job opportunities — can either reduce or worsen health inequalities. For example, her team found in a study that veterans who were eligible for financial support in college through the Korean War GI Bill had better mental, physical and cognitive health than nonveterans. In another study, her team found that eligibility for the Vietnam War GI Bill lowered blood pressure and reduced health gaps. Her work also shows that people from marginalized groups — such as women, people of color, and those from lower-income families — often gain more health benefits from education than those in more privileged groups. These findings support the idea that improving access to education can be a powerful way to reduce health disparities. 

Vable earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Grinnell College, her MPH in epidemiology from the University of Michigan, and her ScD in social epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She completed postdoctoral training at Harvard and Stanford. She continued to study, at Stanford, how social policies shape health across the course of life. 

Areas of focus:

  • The impact of life course education and employment on aging and disease.
  • Using data to understand cause and effect in public health.
  • Tracking the progression of disease as people age.
  • How education policies can reduce health inequalities.
  • How social and economic systems affect health.

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