Nicholas Christakis

Social scientist

Nicholas Christakis is a social scientist currently serving as a Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. He studied at Harvard and Yale, and was a resident at University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, before completing his PhD in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. He moved to the University of Chicago upon graduation, where he was eventually awarded tenure in Sociology and Medicine. In 2005, he moved to Harvard Medical School, and was awarded tenure at the Department of Sociology in the same year and the department of Medicine in 2009.

Christakis' research is focused on the relationship between social networks and health. He is the author of Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care (2001) and the co-author of Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives (2009).