Graduate Student Research Assistant Rachael is a third-year PhD student studying the sociology of health, family, the life course, and aging. Her research bridges macro-level trends and micro-level lived experiences to illuminate how social inequality becomes biologically embedded across the life course. She is particularly interested in how women navigate periods of social transition, especially when social and economic opportunities and cultural expectations surrounding relationships, caregiving, and family life do not always change in tandem. Her research interests center on how these mismatches shape decisions about relationships and family formation and influence health, and how these processes vary across generations and cultural and structural contexts. Rachael regularly collaborates on projects with researchers in the Families, Communities, and Health Workshop and the Center on Biological Embedding of Social Events and Relationships. She has also served as a teaching assistant for several courses in the department and delivered guest lectures on racial/ethnic disparities in aging and on analyzing and interpreting quantitative data. Education Education: M.A. in Sociology - University of Georgia, 2026 B.S. in Psychology - University of Georgia, 2023 Other Affiliations: Enter the name of department or institution you are affiliated with Research Research Areas: Medical Sociology Family, Life Course, and Aging Labs: Families, Communities, and Health Workshop Selected Publications Selected Publications: Lei, M.-K., Weaver, R. D., Beach, S. R. H., & Mielke, M. M. (2026). Racial discrimination accelerates age-related increases in serum neurofilament light chain among African American women: Examination of change from midlife to older adulthood. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, gbag401. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbag041 Weaver, R. D. & Lei, M.-K. (2026). Comorbid diabetes and hypertension in early adulthood predict neurodegeneration in midlife: Insights across racial/ethnic groups using a blood-based biomarker of dementia risk. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Behavior & Socioeconomics of Aging, e70069. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsa3.70069 Lei, M.-K. & Weaver, R. D. (2025). The buffering effect of social support on the link between biologically embedded childhood maltreatment and adult cardiovascular disease. Social Science and Medicine, 384, 118530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118530 Simons, R. L., Ong, M. L., Lei, M.-K., Beach, S. R. H., Lu, Y.-W., Weaver, R. D., & Mielke, M. M. (2025). Diabetes and hypertension at midlife predict increases in biomarkers of dementia among Black Americans. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-025-02310-2 Rigg, K. K., Weaver, R. D., & Kusiak, E. (2023). Attitudes toward methadone treatment among Black/African Americans: Implications for engagement and retention. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 93(6), 476-485. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000692.
