Sociologist Jennifer Karas Montez, University Professor and the Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies, has begun a one-year term as president of the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science (IAPHS), a national organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of the public.

The IAPHS partners with other organizations, provides award opportunities for members, convenes an annual conference and produces podcasts, webinars and other educational media.

Montez began the term Nov. 1 after having been president-elect for the past year. She leads the organization with the support of five other officers, a president-elect, past president, secretary, treasurer and executive director. The six positions serve on the board of directors with 10 additional members.

 “I am honored to serve IAPHS in this capacity over the next year,” she says. “We have an exciting year planned with several new initiatives under way to support our emerging scholars and take on the current challenges in population health research, funding and impact.”

Montez has extensive expertise in demography, political economy, population health, and life course and aging topics. Her research examines the large and growing inequalities in adult mortality across education levels and geographic areas within the United States, including why those trends are particularly worrisome for women, for people without a college degree and for those living in states in the South and Midwest.

She also studies whether and why experiences in childhood, such as poverty and abuse, have enduring consequences for health during later life. Her numerous funded research endeavors include a $1.9 million study supported by the National Institute on Aging to accelerate research on trends in U.S. adult health and longevity in recent decades and explain why those trends are most troubling in certain states and local areas. In total, she has received over $12 million in grants as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI to identify the causes of and solutions to poor health in the United States.

In September, Montez was one of three faculty members reappointed to the rank of University Professor. The honor is among the University’s most senior and selective academic statuses, recognizing exceptional scholarship and innovative academic and professional activity. In the fall of 2024, she was honored with a Dean’s Centennial Citation for Faculty Excellence.

She directs the Center for Aging and Policy Studies and co-directs the Maxwell-based Policy, Place, and Population Health Lab. She’s also a faculty associate of the Aging Studies Institute and a research affiliate at the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health and the Center for Policy Research.

By Jacob Spudich