I am an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at East Carolina University. Before joining ECU, I was a postdoctoral research scientist at the Center for Demography of Health and Aging at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My research agenda encompasses family demography, population health, aging & life course, and gender & sexuality, with a particular interest in how family relationships influence health outcomes among the aging population. 

My current research explores the association between parenthood (including parental status, parent-child relationships, and fertility history) and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias among older adults. My work has been published in several reputable journals, such as: Demography, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontologist, Social Science & Medicine, SSM-Population Health, Annals of Epidemiology, ... (Google Scholar; Research Gate; ORCID) 

I earned a B.A. in sociology at China Agricultural University, a M.A. in sociology at University at Buffalo, and a Ph.D. at Michigan State University.