Omer Gersten
Instit. of Sociology, Academia Sinica
No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd.
Nankang, Taipei, Taiwan, 11529
Phone: ++886-2-2652-5127
FAX: ++886-2-2652-5050
Email: omer AT gate.sinica.edu.tw

• Gersten, O., Boyce, T., and Timiras, P. Does lower subjective status yield riskier biomarker profiles?
• Gersten, O. and Miller, T. The cancer transition in the devoloped and developing world.
• Gersten, O., Dow, W., and Rosero-Bixby, L. Stressors over the lifecourse and physiological dysregulation in Costa Rica.

• Neuroendocrine biomarkers, social relations, and the cumulative costs of stress in Taiwan [pdf]
  Omer Gersten
  Social Science & Medicine, 2008, 66(3):507-519
  
  Invited commentaries on the above article were written by McDade [pdf] and Loucks, Juster, and Pruessner [pdf] and I responded to these with a rejoinder (see "Invited Commentaries" below).
  
  
• The Cancer Transition in Japan since 1951 [pdf]
  Omer Gersten and John Wilmoth
  Demographic Research, 2002, 7(5):271-306
  
  The most important theoretical contribution of this paper is the idea that a key element of Omran's now classic "epidemiologic transition" can be extended to cancers. According to the epidemiologic transition, population health burdens have historically shifted from diseases mainly infectious in origin, like tuberculosis and smallpox, to those non-infectious in origin, like heart disease and cancer. It is inaccurate, this paper argues, to present cancer as an exemplar of the switch to diseases without an infectious root since in many important cancers, like that of the stomach and liver, infections play a major role in their onset. Nevertheless, one can apply the epidemiologic transition framework to cancers as a group because it is precisely those with an infectious root that are in decline and those related more to lifestyle and behaviors that are on the increase. We call this shift over time in the makeup of the cancer disease burden the "cancer transition."  
  

• The path traveled and the path ahead for the allostatic framework: a rejoinder on the framework's importance and the need for further work related to data, theory, and measurement [pdf]
  Omer Gersten
  Social Science & Medicine, 2008, 66(3):531-535
  
  
• Commentary: liver cancer and the epidemiological and cancer transition theories [pdf]
  Omer Gersten
  International Journal of Epidemiology, 2005, 34(2):403-4
  
  I was invited to comment on Shibuya and Yano's paper [pdf] about liver cancer rates in Japan; their article appears in the same issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology. In addition to commenting specifically on their paper, the commentary serves as a way of summarizing and extending some of the main theoretical findings of my earlier paper co-authored with John Wilmoth on the cancer and epidemiologic transitions (see above).

• The adrenals and pituitary -- stress, adaptation, and longevity [pdf]
  Paola Timiras and Omer Gersten
  Physiological basis of aging and geriatrics, 4th edition (P. S. Timiras, ed.). 2007, pp. 137-57, New York: Informa Healthcare
  

• Book review: The Selfish Gene (30th Anniversary ed.) by Richard Dawkins [pdf]
  Omer Gersten
  The European Legacy, 2007, 12(6):762
  

• Bridging the biological and social worlds: neuroendocrine biomarkers, social relations, and the costs of cumulative stress in Taiwan [pdf]
  Omer Gersten
  UC Berkeley, PhD Dissertation, 2005 (DAI 2006)
  
  In large part my dissertation investigates the connection between social integration and health. This work follows a long tradition of research in this area, and, indeed, one of the earliest sociological investigations was carried out by Emile Durkheim who found reduced suicide rates among those participating in organized religion. More recent research, primarily in Western populations, has tended to confirm the link between greater social connection (as measured by marriage, number of friends, perceived network support, etc.) and reduced morbidity and mortality. It is thought that social integration might be beneficial because, through a variety of mechanisms, integration reduces levels of stress. In a non-Western population, I tested the hypothesis that positive social integration (and subjective reports of low levels of stress) are correlated with low levels of certain "stress biomarkers." The main finding from the dissertation is that there is little connection between measures of social integration (and life history stress) and measures of neuroendocrine system dysregulation.