Christakis Appointed Silliman College Master

Yale President Peter Salovey made the announcement Thursday, saying: “Professor Christakis is recognized widely as a visionary scholar and researcher, selected by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world and twice cited among the ‘Top 100 Global Thinkers’ by Foreign Policy magazine. His book with James H. Fowler on social networks, Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, has been translated into nearly twenty foreign languages. He practiced medicine as a hospice doctor until five years ago. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.”

 

In addition to his role in the Department of Sociology, Professor Christakis has appointments in the Departments of Internal Medicine, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Biomedical Engineering. The social scientist and physician is a 1984 graduate of Yale College (where he was a resident of Ezra Stiles). His research focuses on biosocial science, network science, and behavior genetics; he is director of the Human Nature Lab and co-director of the Yale Institute for Network Science. In addition to teaching his popular undergraduate course, Sociology 126, “Health of the Public,” his work with college students has included advising a number of student-run start-ups.

 

After earning an M.D. and M.P.H. from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, Professor Christakis began his career at the University of Chicago in 1995. Before coming to Yale in 2013, he was for twelve years a professor of sociology and of medicine at Harvard, where he also served as master of Pforzheimer House at Harvard College from 2009 to 2013.