Ying Chen, Sc.D., serves as an empirical research associate and data scientist for the program. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she also obtained her doctorate in 2016 in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Her current research concerns identifying positive psychosocial factors that help promote human flourishing. She is particularly interested in studying health assets within the family for improving health and well-being. Her other work and interests include a) social disparity in the distribution of well-being; b) the biological and behavioral mechanisms linking childhood familial experiences to health in adulthood; c) the influences of religious participation on individuals’ subsequent health and well-being.

Featured Research Articles

• Chen, Y., Koh, H. K., Kawachi, I., Botticelli, M., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2020). Religious service attendance and deaths related to drugs, alcohol, and suicide among US health care professionals. JAMA Psychiatry. In Press.
• Chen, Y., Kim, E. S., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2020). Religious-service attendance and subsequent health and well-being throughout adulthood: evidence from three prospective cohorts. International Journal of Epidemiology. In Press.
• Chen, Y., Haines, J., Charlton, B. M., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2019). Positive parenting improves multiple aspects of health and well-being in young adulthood. Nat Hum Behav, 3(7), 684-691.
• Chen, Y., Kubzansky, L. D., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2019). Parental warmth and flourishing in mid-life. Social Science & Medicine, 220, 65-72.
• Chen, Y., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2018). Associations of religious upbringing with subsequent health and well-being from adolescence to young adulthood: an outcome-wide analysis. American Journal of Epidemiology, 187(11), 2355-2364.
• Chen, Y., Kim, E. S., Koh, H. K., Frazier, L. A., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2019). Sense of mission and subsequent health and well-being among young adults: an outcome-wide analysis. American Journal of Epidemiology, 188(4), 664-673.