Dr. Eric S. Kim (he/him/his) is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. He is also a Visiting Scientist and Research Affiliate with the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness (at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health), and the Human Flourishing Program (at Harvard University’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science).

His program of research aims to identify, understand, and intervene upon the dimensions of psychological well-being that reduce the risk of age-related conditions. This research also aims to understand the influence that the social environment has on the connection between psychological well-being and physical health. His research integrates perspectives from psychology (health, clinical, developmental, social, personality), gerontology, social epidemiology, biology, biostatistics, and translational science.

Population aging is one of the most important social trends of the 21st century. For example, in both Canada and the United States, the number of adults aged ≥65 is projected to increase by 45%-55% in the next 15 years. As societies grapple with the rising tide of chronic conditions, healthcare costs, and long-term care costs, it is imperative to develop a science that informs a more comprehensive approach to healthy aging. Dr. Kim’s overarching goal is to substantially help improve the psychological well-being and physical health of our rapidly growing population. In pursuit of this goal, Dr. Kim’s program of basic and translational research revolves around five interwoven questions.

1. Are different dimensions of psychological well-being (e.g., sense of purpose in life, optimism) associated with reduced risk of age-related chronic conditions (e.g., cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment)?
2. What are the mechanistic biobehavioral pathways that explain how psychological well-being influences health: 1) health behaviors such as physical activity, sleep, and diet, 2) biological pathways such as DNA methylation and inflammation, 3) stress-buffering?
3. Our health is influenced by the social milieu in which we live, including stressful experiences at the individual (e.g., major disease diagnosis), household (e.g., death of a spouse), neighborhood (e.g., low neighborhood cohesion), and societal levels (e.g., social and racial disparities, economic shocks like the 2008 recession). Yet inadequate attention has been given to psychosocial assets that may buffer against these social adversities. Are dimensions of psychological well-being pathways through which social conditions shape people’s health, and do they foster resilience against these forces?
4. Large epidemiological studies cannot regularly capture a wide array of psychological and social factors because repeatedly administering self-assessments causes substantial response burden for study participants and is financially prohibitive for researchers. This limitation constrains progress in the field. With full participant consent, can machine learning algorithms leverage digital footprints in social media to automatically assess an array of psychosocial factors?
5. From a translational science perspective, how might we partner with large non-profits and healthcare insurers to rigorously test and disseminate meaningful, durable, self-sustaining, population-level interventions aimed at improving psychological well-being and its potential downstream effects (e.g., lower physical and psychological morbidity, lower healthcare expenditures, and enhance prognosis if illness does strike)?

In the investigations described above, he used a variety of study designs and analytic tools including: population-based cohort studies, biostatistical causal inference methods, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, focus groups, and randomized controlled trials.

Dr. Kim has had the honor of working with incredible colleagues in a range of disciplines and has published papers in a variety of journals including: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, JAMA Psychiatry, Stroke, Circulation, Preventive Medicine, American Journal of Epidemiology, Psychosomatic Medicine, Health Psychology, and the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Many of these studies have been featured in various news outlets including: the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, CBS News (Television Interview), BBC News (Radio Interview), NPR (Radio Interview), Time Magazine, and the Washington Post.

He’s given talks about his work at Universities (e.g., Harvard University, University of British Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, MIT), corporations (e.g., UnitedHealth Group, IDEO, AARP, Samsung), and he’s also been invited to speak at and join the working groups of national- and international-level think-tank groups (e.g., United Nations, OECD, Aspen Ideas Festival, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, The Task Force for Global Health, World Government Summit, National Academy of Sciences). Dr. Kim has been supported by funding from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), National, Heart, Lung, Blood, Institute (NHLBI), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and AARP.

Dr. Kim was the recipient of a K99/R00 from NIH, the Horace H. Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship, and the Telluride Association Scholarship. He was also recognized as one of Forbe’s 30 Under 30 in Healthcare (Top 30 Innovators Under the Age of 30), one of the Top 30 Thinkers Under the Age of 30 by Pacific Standard, a recipient of the American Journal of Epidemiology’s Paper of the Year Award, the American Psychological Association Division 20’s Early Career Achievement Award, and an Association for Psychological Science (APS) Rising Star.

Dr. Kim volunteers by providing pro bono statistical consulting to non-profit organizations in his community – please contact him if you are interested.

Research interests include: health psychology, psychological well-being (e.g., sense of purpose in life, optimism), older adults / aging, social epidemiology

Kim, E.S., Delaney, S., & Kubzansky L.D. (in press). Sense of purpose in life and cardiovascular disease: underlying mechanisms and future directions. Current Cardiology Reports.

Kim, E.S., Fong, K., Lee, L., Spiro, A., Schwartz, J., Whitsel, E., Horvath, S., Wang, C., Hou, L., Baccarelli A.A., Li Y., Stewart J., Manson, J.E., Grodstein, F., DeMeo, D., & Kubzansky, L.D. (2019). Optimism is not associated with two indicators of DNA methylation aging. Aging, 11, 4970-4989.

Kim, E.S., James, P., Kubzansky, L.D., Zevon, E., Trudel-Fitzgerald, C., & Grodstein, F. (2019). Optimism and healthy aging in women and men. American Journal of Epidemiology, 188, 1084-1091

Kang, Y., Strecher, V.J., Kim, E.S., & Falk, E.B. (2019). Purpose in life and conflict-related neural responses during health decision making. Health Psychology, 38, 545-552.

Kim, E.S., Kawachi, I., Chen, Y., & Kubzansky, L.D. (2017). The association between purpose in life and objective measures of physical function in older adults. JAMA Psychiatry, 4, 1039-1045.

Kim, E.S., Kubzansky, L.D., Soo, J., & Boehm, J.K. (2017). Maintaining healthy behavior: a prospective study of psychological well-being and physical activity over time. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 51, 337-347.

Kim, E.S., Hagan, K.A., Grodstein, F., DeMeo, D.L., De Vivo, I., & Kubzansky, L.D. (2017). Optimism and cause-specific mortality: a prospective cohort study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 185, 21-29.

Lee, D.B., Kim, E.S., & Neblett, E.W. (2017). The link between discrimination and telomere length in African-American adults. Health Psychology, 36, 458-467.

Kim, E.S., Strecher, V.J., & Ryff, C.D. (2014). Purpose in life and preventive health care services. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111, 16331–16336.

Kim, E.S., Smith, J., & Kubzansky, L.D. (2014). Prospective study of the association between dispositional optimism and incident heart failure. Circulation: Heart Failure, 7, 394-400.

Kim, E.S., Chopik, W. J., & Smith, J. (2014) Are people healthier if their partners are more optimistic? The dyadic effect of optimism on health among older adults. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 76, 447-453.

Kim, E.S., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2013). Perceived neighborhood social cohesion and stroke. Social Science & Medicine, 97, 49-55.

Hartmann, W., Kim, E.S., Wendt, D., Kim, J, Nguyen, T., Nagata, D., & Gone, J. (2013). In search of cultural diversity, revisited: publication trends in ethnic minority and cross-cultural psychology. Review of General Psychology, 17, 243-254.

• Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR) Scholar (2020)
• American Psychological Association (APA) Division 20 – Springer Early Career Achievement Award in Research on Adult Development and Aging (2020)
• American Journal of Epidemiology – Article of the Year (2020)
• Association for Psychological Science (APS) Rising Star (2019)
• K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, National Institute on Aging (2018)
• Forbes 30 Under 30 (in Healthcare), Forbes Magazine (2016)