معرفی
Jessica Sayles West is an Assistant Professor at Duke University, specializing in Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences. As a medical sociologist, her work focuses on hearing loss, aging, and health disparities across the life course. She leverages population-level and electronic health record data to explore sociodemographic disparities in hearing loss onset, life expectancy with hearing loss, and "spillover" effects on health outcomes for individuals and their close contacts.
- Education:
- B.A. in Social Anthropology (dual concentration), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2012)
- M.P.H. in Sociomedical Sciences with a certificate in Public Health Research Methods, Columbia University Mailman School (2015)
- M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology (focus: Medical Sociology and Demography), Duke University (2018, 2021)
- NIA T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Duke University Aging Center (2021–2023)
Jessica's research has appeared in leading journals such as the Journals of Gerontology, Social Science & Medicine, and Ear and Hearing. Her work examines intersections of hearing loss and aging, particularly how disparities in socioeconomic status, race, and gender influence health trajectories. Recent publications analyze longitudinal hospitalization trends in heart failure patients, cross-national differences in hearing impairment, and the psychosocial impacts of sensory impairments on aging populations.
Key scientific awards include the NIA T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship. She has received grants from the National Institute on Aging (2022–2027) for research on life course risks of hospitalization in older adults with heart failure. Her work emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, particularly with mentors Matthew E. Dupre and Sherri L. Smith.
