Faculty Profile

Lindsay C Kobayashi, PhD, MSc

Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Associate Professor of Global Public Health
Faculty Associate, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research
Associate Director for Research, Center for Global Health Equity

Courses Taught Courses Taught
Graduation Cap: Google Scholar
PDF: Curriculum Vitae
Book: Michigan Research Experts
Website: Social Epidemiology of Global Aging (SEGA) Research Group
Website: IRTHA T32 Training Program
Website: HCAP Cross-National Training Program

Dr. Kobayashi's research focuses on the social epidemiology of cognitive aging from a global perspective. She investigates social and economic life course influences on cognitive aging, primarily using data from internationally harmonized longitudinal studies of aging. She is an innovator in theoretical and methodological approaches to cross-national comparisons of later-life cognitive aging using the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP). Dr. Kobayashi is a Co-Investigator of the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the Longitudinal Study of Health and Ageing in Kenya (LOSHAK), leading their respective HCAP data collections. With Dr. Kenneth Langa, she is the Co-Director of the NIA-funded U24 HCAP International Network, an ongoing international research collaboration to measure and understand dementia risk within harmonized longitudinal studies of aging around the world.

Dr. Kobayashi is the Co-Director of the NIA-funded Interdisciplinary Research Training in Health and Aging (IRTHA) T32 program, with Dr. Briana Mezuk, at the University of Michigan. She is also the Co-Director of the NIA-funded HCAP Cross-National Training Program (HCAP-XC), with Dr. Richard Jones at Brown University. HCAP-XC is a summer short course that provides hands-on training in the best practices for the measurement and analysis of harmonized HCAP data from around the world.

In recognition of her contributions to the social epidemiology of cognitive aging in rural South Africa, she is an Honorary Senior Researcher at the MRC/Wits Rural Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt) at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

PhD, Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London, London, UK, 2016
MSc, Epidemiology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, 2012
BSc, Life Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, 2010

Research Interests:
Aging; global health; epidemiology; social epidemiology; cognitive aging; health disparities

Research Projects:

Cumulative socioeconomic exposures, cash transfer interventions, and later-life cognitive decline and dementia risk in a low-income region of South Africa.

Dementia cases are projected to rapidly expand in low- and middle- income countries in the coming decades and government cash transfer programs may be effective interventions. AARISE aims to answer key questions about the amounts, durations, target recipients, and adult life course timing of cash transfer income necessary to reduce dementia risk and explore potential mechanisms through household assets and spending on cognitively stimulating resources. AARISE is led by Dr. Kobayashi with Dr. Molly Rosenberg at Indiana University, with partners at Harvard University, the University of the Witwatersrand, and Erasmus University Rotterdam, and is funded by the US National Institute on Aging (R01AG069128).

Socioeconomic, Cardiovascular, and Psychosocial Sources of Cross-National Variation in Cognitive Health Among Older Adults:

This harmonization project aims to evaluate the contributions of socioeconomic, cardiovascular, and psychosocial risk factors for later-life cognitive function, decline, and dementia across 20 diverse countries around the world, using statistically harmonized cognitive data from the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP) of the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and its International Partner Studies (IPS). Dr. Kobayashi is leading this project with Dr. Alden Gross at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with partners at the University of Southern California, Columbia University, and Brown University. This project is funded by the US National Institute on Aging (R01AG070953).

Non-Educational Sources of Later-Life Cognitive Reserve and Resilience among Older Adults with and without Formal Education in India:

Using longitudinal data from a nationally representative study of older adults in India, we are identifying the roles of life course employment, social relationships, and social engagement in cognitive reserve, cognitive change, and dementia risk, overall and according to access to early-life formal education. Our results will advance scientific theory on resilience to aging-related brain pathology in the absence of education and support the identification of intervention targets to reduce the global dementia burden for older populations. Dr. Kobayashi is leading with project with Dr. Jinkook Lee at the University of Southern California. This project is funded by the US National Institute on Aging (RF1AG087965).

Gross AL, Mani SS, Weir D, Briceño EM, Arce Rentería M, Nichols E, Jones RN, Manly JM, Langa KM, Ikanga J, Lee J, Kobayashi LC. Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol: What makes an HCAP an HCAP? An adaptive architecture for measuring cognitive aging around the world. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2026;81(Supplement_1):S31-S43. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbaf202.

Rosenberg M, Beidelman ET, Chen X, Whiteson Kabudula C, Pettifor A, Bassil DT, Berkman L, Kahn K, Tollman S, Kobayashi LC. Effect of a cash transfer intervention on memory decline and dementia probability in older adults in rural South Africa. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024;121(40):e2321078121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2321078121.

Kobayashi LC, Peterson RL, Yu X, Avila-Rieger J, Amofa-Ho PA, Vila-Castelar C, Meza E, Shaaban CE, Whitmer RA, Gilsanz P, Mayeda ER. Life course financial mobility and later-life memory function and decline by gender, and race and ethnicity: an intersectional analysis of the US KHANDLE and STAR cohort studies. Lancet Healthy Longev. 2024;5(9):100613. doi: 10.1016/S2666-7568(24)00129-6.

Yu X, Kabudula CW, Wagner RG, Bassil DT, Farrell MT, Tollman SM, Kahn K, Berkman LF, Rosenberg MS, Kobayashi LC. Mid-life employment trajectories and subsequent memory function and rate of decline in rural South Africa, 2000-22. Int J Epidemiol. 2024;53(2):dyae022. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyae022.

Kobayashi LC, Jones RN, Briceño EM, Rentería MA, Zhang Y, Meijer E, Langa KM, Lee J, Gross AL. Cross-national comparisons of later-life cognitive function using data from the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP): Considerations and recommended best practices. Alzheimers Dement. 2024;20(3):2273-2281. doi: 10.1002/alz.13694.

Cho TC, Yu X, Gross AL, Zhang YS, Lee J, Langa KM, Kobayashi LC. Negative wealth shocks in later life and subsequent cognitive function in older adults in China, England, Mexico, and the USA, 2012-18: a population-based, cross-nationally harmonised, longitudinal study.Lancet Healthy Longev. 2023;4(9):e461-e469. doi: 10.1016/S2666-7568(23)00113-7.

View full list of publications at [PubMed].

Email: [email protected]

Office: 734-763-0322

For media inquiries: [email protected]

Areas of Expertise: Aging, Brain Disorders, Chronic Disease, Global Public Health, Health Equity, Social Epidemiology