Kimson E. Johnson, PhD

Biography

Dr. Kimson E. Johnson is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Social Research, Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan. Her work focuses on elucidating how social context, biological processes, and life course experiences intersect to shape patterns and outcomes across population subgroups. She earned her joint PhD in Health Services Organization and Policy and Sociology, along with an M.A. in Sociology and an M.S.W., from the University of Michigan. Her research applies an exposome framework to understand how variations in social, psychological, environmental, and biological exposures impact cardiometabolic health and dementia risk over the life course. Previous work has examined how childhood and adult adversity shape cognitive trajectories in midlife and late life. Currently, her work investigates the impact of early-life educational environments on mid to late life cognitive functioning. Her more recent, emerging work aims to elucidate how military service- related exposures shape biological mechanisms and cognitive processes that contribute to dementia risk among aging veterans.

RCMAR Pilot Project Title: “Military Service Related Exposure and Cognition Decline: Examining Inflammation and ADRD Biomarkers in Aging Veterans”

Publications:

• Johnson K, Sonnega A. Demography. In: Colburn JL, Westcott AM, Potter JF, eds. Geriatrics Review Syllabus: A Core Curriculum in Geriatric Medicine. 12th ed. American Geriatrics Society; 2025.
• Cumulative Systolic Blood Pressure and Incident Stroke Type Variation by Race and Ethnicity
  Johnson, K. E., Li, H., Zhang, M., Springer, M. V., Galecki, A. T., Whitney, R. T., … & Levine, D. A. (2024). Cumulative systolic blood pressure and incident stroke type variation by race and ethnicity. JAMA network open, 7(5), e248502-e248502.