Christopher L. Seplaki, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Phone Numbers

Administrative: (585) 275-8784

Office: (585) 273-1549

Fax: (585) 461-4532

Locations

Public Health Sciences
265 Crittenden Blvd.
Rochester, NY 14642

Faculty Appointments

Associate Professor - Department of Public Health Sciences (SMD)
Associate Professor - Department of Psychiatry , Research (SMD) - Joint

Biography

Research

Dr. Seplaki's overarching goals are to understand how challenges in the social and physical environment interact with the biological processes of aging, and how to translate that understanding into effective interventions that reduce disability and mortality among older adults. His research, spanning both the individual and population level, encompasses physical and social characteristics of the home environment that support or challenge elders, life stressors, and socioeconomic status, and examines how these factors are related to changes in biological indicators of several physiological systems and self-reports of physical and mental health. Key themes in his work include an emphasis on measurement and estimation issues and a focus on subclinical disease processes related to geriatric frailty and allostatic load, including development of measures of health risk related to multi-system dysregulation. Taken together, Dr. Seplaki's research seeks to provide an integrated perspective on trajectories of health in late life and, ultimately, identify opportunities to reduce disability and mortality and improve the ability of older adults to continue to live independently.

Keywords: Aging, disability, environment, frailty, biomarkers, measurement, health disparities

Credentials

Education

1994
BA | Rutgers University
Economics

1997
MS | Univ Wisconsin-Madison
Economics

2002
PhD | Univ Wisconsin-Madison
Population Health

Awards

2014 - 2015
University of Rochester, Strategic Plan Pilot Grant in Aging Research, 2014-2015

2014
Behavioral and Social Sciences Section
Sponsor: Gerontological Association of America

2007
Mason F. Lord Poster Competition Honoring Dr. James Fries
Location: Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics

2003
RAND Summer Institute Full Scholarship

1999
Conference Student Competition, Highly Commended
Location: International Health Economics Association

1999
Conference Pre- and Post Doctoral Poster Award
Location: Association for Health Services Research

1996
Distinguished Teaching Assistant
Location: Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

1994
Rutgers Scholar

1994
John C. Daniel Memorial Award, Economics

VIEW ALL

Publications

Journal Articles

7/2021
Martin, H.; van Wijngaarden, E.; Seplaki, C.; Stringer, J.; Williams, GC.; Dozier, AM. "Breastfeeding Motivation Predicts Infant Feeding Intention and Outcomes: Evaluation of a Novel Adaptation of the Treatment Self-Regulation Questionnaire" . Forthcoming in the Journal of Human Lactation. 2021; .

6/2021
Li, R†.; Dworkin, RH.; Chapman, BP.; Becerra, AZ.; Yang, L.; Mooney, CJ.; Seplaki, CL. "Moderate to Severe Chronic Pain in Later Life: Risk and Resilience Factors for Recovery." Forthcoming in The Journal of Pain. 2021; .

7/9/2019
Bandeen-Roche K, Gross AL, Varadhan R, Buta B, Carlson MC, Huisingh-Scheetz M, McAdams-DeMarco M, Piggott DA, Brown TT, Hasan RK, Kalyani RR, Seplaki CL, Walston JD, Xue QL. "Principles and Issues for Physical Frailty Measurement and its Clinical Application." The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences.. 2019 Jul 9; Epub 2019 Jul 09.

Books & Chapters

2012
Chapter Title: Reversing the impact of SES disparities over the life course on cognitive and brain aging
Book Title: The Biological Consequences of Socioeconomic Inequalities
Author List: Carlson MC, CL Seplaki, TE Seeman
Edited By: B. Wolfe, W. Evans & T. E. Seeman
Published By: Russell Sage Foundation 2012 in New York

2009
Chapter Title: Frailty and Robustness
Book Title: Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development
Author List: Seplaki, CL; Szanton, SL
Edited By: Deborah Carr
Published By: Macmillan Reference USA 2009 in Detroit

2004
Chapter Title: Variation in Living Environments Among Community-Dwelling Elders
Book Title: Office of Population Research Working Paper Series
Author List: Seplaki CL, MA Smith, BH Singer
Published By: Princeton 2004 in Princeton University

VIEW ALL PUBLICATIONS