Welcome to Karina Van Bogart, PhD, Research Assistant Professor

June 5, 2026

Pictured Above: Karina Van Bogart, PhD

We are thrilled to welcome Karina Van Bogart, PhD, who joins the faculty of Northwestern University Department of Medical Social Sciences as a Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Determinants of Health.

Van Bogart earned her PhD in Biobehavioral Health from The Pennsylvania State University where she was an NIA-funded T32 predoctoral fellow in the department of Biobehavioral Health and the Center for Healthy Aging. Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Scholar in Northwestern University Department of Medical Social Sciences.

Van Bogart is a health psychologist interested in how psychosocial processes are related to health and aging – with a particular passion for the investigation of loneliness and social connection. Her work is interdisciplinary, integrating perspectives from health psychology, psychoneuroimmunology and psychoneuroendocrinology, affective science, and lifespan developmental science. For example, she examines different biological pathways related to the chronic activation of stress-response systems (e.g., diurnal cortisol, inflammation) to better understand the association between loneliness and health. She is also interested in examining factors that contribute to persistent, chronic loneliness, as well as individual differences that shape vulnerability or resilience to loneliness over time. In addition, her work explores how loneliness can be measured more effectively and how cumulative experiences of loneliness impact health, well-being, and aging over time. Methodologically, she often uses ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and multilevel modeling to capture dynamic biobehavioral processes in everyday life. More recently, she has begun using coordinated data analysis to evaluate robustness and generalizability of findings across multiple independent datasets. Through her work, she aims to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of loneliness and social connection as key determinants of health and aging.

She is very proud of getting an National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program award on the first try!  She is also proud of her work on the planning committee for the Society of Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine (SBSM) annual meetings. At this year’s annual meeting she helped plan a key-note debate focused on clinical trials vs. implementation science. The debate was a huge success and so much fun!  “I chose to join MSS because it was the perfect fit for my program of research and I was drawn to the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of the department,” said Van Bogart. In her new role, she is most excited about collaborating with the amazing faculty in MSS! Welcome Karina Van Bogart!