Nicholas A. Christakis

Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, Ph.D., MPH, is a social scientist and physician at Yale University, and one of the world’s foremost authorities on social networks. He directs the Human Nature Lab and is the Co-Director of the Yale Institute for Network Science.  At Yale, he is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science, appointed in the departments of Sociology; Data Science; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Biomedical Engineering; Medicine; and the School of Management. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2006; the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2010; and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017.

Dr. Christakis is the author of over 200 articles and several books, including Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives; Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society; and Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live. In 2009, Christakis was named by Time magazine to their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2009 and in 2010, he was listed by Foreign Policy magazine in their annual list of Top 100 Global Thinkers.