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Maria Glymour

Maria Glymour’s research focuses on how social factors experienced across the lifecourse, from infancy to adulthood, influence cognitive function, dementia, stroke, and other health outcomes in old age. Maria is especially interested in education and other cognitively engaging exposures.  Current cohorts of elderly in the US were exposed to profound social changes during the early 20th century when we revolutionized access to high school.  One thread of her research examines how changes in schooling laws and school quality in the early 20th century might have influenced the health and cognitive functioning of current cohorts of elderly.  Maria’s results suggest that extra schooling has substantial benefits for memory function in the elderly independent of any “innate” characteristics.