Pamela Herd, Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy at the Ford School of Public Policy, has been named the 19th National Institute of Health (NIH) Matilda White Riley Distinguished Lecturer.
She will present, "Life Course Social and Environmental Influences on Later-life Health and Cognition: The Role of Multidisciplinary Research," online on October 7, 2026. Learn more and register here.
Herd's award-winning research examines the intersection between social conditions, policy, inequality, and health and well-being over the life course. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and is currently one of the co-principal investigators for General Social Survey, an investigator with the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, and chair of the NIH Data Monitoring Committee for the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health).
Herd's current NIH-NIA funded research is centered on cognitive health, including the early- and mid-life social, behavioral, and environmental conditions that influence resilience against cognitive decline and dementia in later life. She is a multiple principal investigator (MPI) on the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study titled Initial Lifetime's Impact on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (WLS-ILIAD), which introduced dementia tracking and rigorous AD diagnostic protocols into the nation's longest-running cohort study. She is also an MPI for the Network on Education, Biosocial Pathways, and Dementia and the Network on Early-Life Determinants, Biosocial Pathways, and Dementia. These initiatives support a network of researchers examining the relationship between ADRD and early-life "exposome"— a set of social, educational, family, neighborhood and environmental conditions—as well as the biological and midlife social and behavioral pathways between early and late life ADRD risk and resilience.
Herd also researches administrative burden, or the bureaucratic obstacles that people encounter when trying to access government benefits, services, and rights. Her book Administrative Burden, Policymaking by Other Means has received numerous awards, was reviewed in the New York Review of Books, and has helped influence state and federal policy reforms. Additionally, Herd serves as co-director of the Better Government Lab, a research center based at both Georgetown University and the University of Michigan focused on improving the delivery of public services.
Herd is the second University of Michigan faculty member to be named the NIH Matilda White Riley honoree. Toni C. Antonucci, Elizabeth M. Douvan Collegiate Professor of Psychology and senior research scientist at the U-M Institute for Social Research Life Course, received the honor in 2020 for her work on social relations and health across lifespans.
About the Matilda White Riley Distinguished Lecturer
The Matilda White Riley Distinguished Lecturer was established in 2006 and honors the legacy of Matilda White Riley, a celebrated scientist and National Academy of Sciences member who transformed behavioral and social sciences research (BSSR) at the National Institutes of Health. Each year, an esteemed social and behavioral scientist delivers the lecture in recognition of outstanding contributions to BSSR that support NIH's mission.
