People
Grace Noppert
Research Assistant Professor, Survey Research Center and Faculty Associate, Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research
Research Interests:
Using large population-based datasets alongside biomarker data, Dr. Noppert studies how neighborhood conditions and early life experiences influence the aging immune system and susceptibility to disease. A key focus of her work is immunosenescence, or the gradual decline of immune function with age, and how it is shaped by social and environmental exposures. She has a particular interest in herpesviruses as persistent infections that provide insight into immune system function and aging.
Dr. Noppert is a faculty member in the Survey Research Center at the Institute for Social Research and co-directs the Biosocial Research Collaborative. She also serves as Deputy Director of the National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA), where she helps lead efforts to expand data infrastructure for studying how neighborhood environments shape health across the United States.
Select Publications
- Chemberlin, Elliott, Melendez,Robert A, Clarke,Philippa J, Kate Duchowny, Gypin,Lindsay, Grace Noppert. 2026. Proximity of parks to polluting sites in the United States. Scientific Reports
- Kate Duchowny, Alexander K. Smith, Irena Cenzer, Chelsea Brown, Grace Noppert, Kristine Yaffe, Amy L. Byers, Carla Perissinotto, Ashwin A. Kotwal. 2025. The prevalence of lifetime trauma and association with physical and psychosocial health among adults at the end of life. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 73(1):123-135.
- Kate Duchowny, Yuan Zhang, Clarke,Philippa J, Allison E. Aiello, Grace Noppert. 2025. Examining the relationship between biomarkers of immune aging and prevalent physical disability in the health and retirement study. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity 125:140-147.
- Xu, Lantian, Li, Chihua, Aiello, Allison E., Langa,Kenneth M, Dowd, Jennifer B., Stebbins, Rebecca C., Meier,Helen Carmon Spink, Jiang, Ziman, Grace Noppert, Li, Gen. 2025. Compositional analysis of lymphocytes and their relationship with health outcomes: findings from the health and retirement study. Immunity & Ageing 22(1):1-15.
- Chemberlin, Elliott M, Kate Duchowny, Probst, Jaidyn, Richardson, Eugene T, Hegde, Sonia T, Grace Noppert. 2025. Towards Relationality in Infectious Disease Research. Open Forum Infectious Diseases 12(10):ofaf128.
- Yuelin He, Faul,Jessica Danielle, Kate Duchowny, Li,Chihua, Rebecca Stebbins, Grace Noppert. 2025. Health impact of a hypothetical intervention on immune burden of cytomegalovirus (CMV) among older adults in the US: a prospective analysis of the Health and Retirement Study Cohort. The Lancet Regional Health - Americas 47:101122.
- Kate Duchowny, Zhang, Yuan S., Stebbins, Rebecca C., Ma, Xin, Chin, Jaydon Jun Yu, Chang, Virginia W., Aiello, Allison E., Grace Noppert. 2025. The aging immune system and all-cause mortality in older americans: differences across sex and race/ethnicity. Immunity & Ageing 22(1):1-11.
- Chemberlin, Elliott M, Kate Duchowny, Probst, Jaidyn, Richardson, Eugene T, Hegde, Sonia T, Grace Noppert. 2025. Toward Relationality in Infectious Disease Research. Open Forum Infectious Diseases 12(10)
- MacConnachie, Lauren, Zhang, Yuan S., Farina, Mateo, Gutierrez, Carmen, Hoover, Andrew, He, Yuelin, Aiello, Allison E., Grace Noppert. 2024. The association between incarceration and housing insecurity and advanced immune age during late life. Social Science & Medicine 347:116698.
- Grace Noppert, Clarke,Philippa J, Hoover, Andrew, Kubale, John, Melendez,Robert A, Kate Duchowny, Hegde, Sonia T., Grace Noppert, Clarke, Philippa, Hoover, Andrew, Kubale, John, Melendez, Robert, Duchowny, Kate, Hegde, Sonia T.. 2024. State variation in neighborhood COVID-19 burden across the United States. Communications Medicine 4(1):1-12.