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Nicholas Christakis

Professor of Biosocial Science, Network Science, & Behavior Genetics, Yale

Nicholas Christakis directs the Human Nature Lab at Yale University, and is the Co-Director of the Yale Institute for Network Science. He is the Sol Goldman Family Professor of Social and Natural Science, appointed in the Departments of Sociology; Medicine; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; and Biomedical Engineering at Yale University.

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Nicholas Christakis

Professor of Biosocial Science, Network Science, & Behavior Genetics, Yale

Nicholas Christakis directs the Human Nature Lab at Yale University, and is the Co-Director of the Yale Institute for Network Science. He is the Sol Goldman Family Professor of Social and Natural Science, appointed in the Departments of Sociology; Medicine; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; and Biomedical Engineering at Yale University. 

His current research focuses on our biology and health affect and are affected by social interactions and social networks. Other recent work has used experiments to examine the spread of altruism in social networks and the genetic and evolutionary determinants of social network structure.

Dr. Christakis received his BS from Yale in 1984, his MD from Harvard Medical School and his MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1989, and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2006; the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2010; and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017.

In 2009, Christakis was named by Time magazine to their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2009 and in 2010, he was listed by Foreign Policy magazine in their annual list of Top 100 Global Thinkers.

Contributions to The Starling Compendium

External Materials

Connected
Connected

The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives—How Your Friends' Friends' Friends Affect Everything You Feel, Think, and Do

In Connected, the authors explain why emotions are contagious, how health behaviors spread, why the rich get richer, even how we find and choose our partners.
Blueprint
Blueprint

The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society

In Blueprint, Nicholas A. Christakis introduces the compelling idea that our genes affect not only our bodies and behaviors, but also the ways in which we make societies, ones that are surprisingly similar worldwide.