Ellen L. Idler, Ph.D., is Acting Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Rutgers University, New
Brunswick. Dr. Idler completed her Ph.D. in Sociology in 1985 at Yale University where she also was
trained in Epidemiology and Public Health. She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and
Chair of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Section. Idler studies psychosocial factors as determinants
of health and mortality in elderly populations, and has focused particularly on studies of religion and selfrated
health. She has published two books and 50 articles and chapters on these topics, several of which
are listed among the most highly cited papers in the social sciences. Idler is a member of the American
Sociological Association and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and has served on the
Council of the ASA Section on Aging and the Life Course.