Robert Waldinger
Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and directs the Harvard Study of Adult Development
Speech Topic
“What does well-being actually look like?: Lessons Learned from the Harvard Study of Adult Development”
Dr. Waldinger will speak about findings from the 85-year Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest longitudinal study of adult life ever done. He will talk about the aspects of wellbeing that are central to health and happiness, and the implications for how we might reverse trends of social isolation and loneliness that are increasing among all age groups.
Robert Waldinger Bio
The Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the longest-running studies of adult life ever done. The Study tracked the lives of 724 men for over 80 years and now studies their Baby Boomer children to understand how childhood experience reaches across decades to affect health and wellbeing in adulthood. He directs a teaching program in psychotherapy at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and he writes about what science can teach us about healthy human development. He is also a Zen master (roshi) and teaches meditation both in the US and internationally. His TED talk on lessons from the longest study of happiness has had over 40 million views and is one of the 10 most viewed TED talks of all time.