Teaching

Nicholas A. Christakis

Professor of Sociology (FAS) and
Professor of Medical Sociology (Harvard Medical School) and
and Professor of Medicine (Harvard Medical School)

Biographical Note

Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, MPH, PhD, is an internist and social scientist who conducts research on social factors that affect health, health care, and longevity. He is a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Professor of Medical Sociology in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School; and Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Christakis' current work is principally concerned with health and social networks, and specifically with how ill health, disability, health behavior, health care, and death in one person can influence the same phenomena in a person's social network. Some current work focuses on the health benefits of marriage and on how ill health in one spouse can have cascading effects on the other spouse. Other work examines a very large social network (of 12,000 people, including family, friends, co-workers and neighbors) followed for over 30 years to look broadly at the role of networks in health and health care. This work involves the application of network science and mathematical models to understand the dynamics of health in longitudinally evolving networks. To the extent that health behaviors such as smoking, drinking, or unhealthy eating spread within networks in intelligible ways, there are substantial implications for our understanding of health behavior and health policy. Most recently, Dr. Christakis has been exploring the joint genetic and socio-environmental determinants of the formation and operation of human social networks. His 2009 book, co-authored with James H. Fowler, and entitled Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, is available here.

Further lines of current research (1) evaluate the effect of neighborhoods on health; and (2) consider various topics in biodemography (such as the demographic determinants of human longevity).

Dr. Christakis' past work has examined the accuracy and role of prognosis in medicine, ways of improving end-of-life care, and the determinants and outcomes of hospice use. His book on prognosis, Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care, was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1999, was widely reviewed, and was translated into Japanese.

Dr. Christakis' research has implications for understanding why people become sick and how they use medical care to become well again. It also has implications for clinical and policy actions to enhance the quality of care given to seriously ill patients and their families.

Dr. Christakis received his BS degree from Yale University, his MD and MPH degrees from Harvard University, and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. He has served on several editorial boards (including the British Medical Journal, the Journal of Palliative Medicine, Palliative Medicine[UK], and the American Journal of Sociology) and review committees (including in the United States, Australia, and Korea). He was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2006. Over the last several years, he has given invited talks in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, South Korea, China, and South Africa. He teaches quantitative and qualitative research design, epidemiology, medical sociology (e.g., Sociology 190 at Harvard College), health services research, and palliative medicine.

For more information about Dr. Christakis, his research group, and his research and teaching (including downloadable copies of papers and other research materials), click here: Nicholas Christakis's HMS web site.

01/11/2012

Courses Offered This Academic Year

A Sampling of Courses Offered in Other Years

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Contact

617-432-5890 (Phone)
617-432-5891 (FAX)

Harvard Medical School;180 Longwood Ave.;Boston, MA 02115

Office Hours

Weds. 4:15-6:45, or by appointment, WJH 570

Staff Contact

Dorothy Friendly (for course-related matters)