Idan Shalev

Idan Shalev is an Associate Professor of Biobehavioral Health at Pennsylvania State University, affiliated with the College of Health and Human Development (HHD). He leads the Shalev Lab, which investigates the mechanistic links between stress, biological aging, and health outcomes across the lifespan. His work focuses on how early-life adversity, chronic stress, and environmental factors influence systemic dysfunction and aging through genomic, epigenetic, and biomarker analyses.

Dr. Shalev holds a PhD in Genetics from the Hebrew University (2010) and has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications. His research integrates multi-omics data to study telomere dynamics, epigenetic clocks, and stress-related biomarkers, with a particular emphasis on translational applications for early intervention. He is a Social Science Research Institute co-funded faculty member and collaborates on projects addressing maternal postpartum aging, intergenerational trauma, and the biological embedding of reproductive strategies.

• Research Themes: Stress biology, telomere regulation, epigenetic aging clocks, early-life adversity, and lifespan health trajectories
• Lab Focus: Development of biomarker-based interventions targeting accelerated aging processes

His grants and projects include investigations into caloric restriction’s effects on aging biomarkers, the impact of caregiving on epigenetic aging, and the role of inflammation in stress-cognition pathways. The Shalev Lab actively engages in large-scale cohort studies and interdisciplinary collaborations to advance understanding of aging mechanisms.