Faculty (Sociology)

Linda Waite is the George Herbert Mead Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology and Senior Fellow at NORC at the University of Chicago. Her research interests include social demography, aging, the family, health, sexuality and social well-being. She is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the NIA-funded National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), a population-based longitudinal study of health among older adults. The hallmark of NSHAP is its comprehensive approach to the health and well-being of older, community-dwelling Americans. At the heart of this project is a nationally-representative survey, first fielded in 2005, with reinterviews in 2010, 2015 and 2021. The interdisciplinary team of investigators has developed cutting-edge methods for measuring population health, and in 2020 an NSHAP COVID19 study was conducted to learn about the experiences of older adults during the pandemic. This project has produced ground-breaking knowledge on the links between social relationships and physical, psychological, cognitive and functional health.

Waite is the recipient of a MERIT Award from the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.