Omer Gersten's Homepage

Omer Gersten, Ph.D.
Email: omer.gersten@gmail.com

Welcome to my homepage!

I'm a health researcher specializing in population health and epidemiology, currently living in San Diego, California. I earned both my undergraduate and graduate degrees from UC Berkeley: a B.A. in Sociology with all pre-medicine classes completed, an M.P.H. (Master of Public Health) in Epidemiology, and a Ph.D. in Demography (Population Studies).

After completing my Ph.D., I moved to Taiwan for a postdoctoral position at Academia Sinica, and after that became a researcher at the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI).

My latest academic paper provides compelling support for the "cancer transition" theory. It posits that as nations develop, cancers with infectious roots (e.g., stomach and cervical cancer) decline, whereas those with non-infectious roots (e.g., lung and breast cancer) increase. This consistent pattern for infectious-related vs. non-infectious-related cancers had never been as comprehensively demonstrated.

Feel free to contact me or connect via ResearchGate or LinkedIn.

Best,
Omer

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Evaluation of the Cancer Transition Theory in the US, Select European Nations, and Japan by Investigating Mortality of Infectious- and Noninfectious-Related Cancers, 1950-2018
Omer Gersten and Magali Barbieri
JAMA Network Open, 2021, 4(4):e215322
Does Lower Subjective Social Status Yield Riskier Biomarker Profiles?
Omer Gersten, Paola S. Timiras, and W. Thomas Boyce
Journal of Biosocial Science, 2015, 47(6):746-761
Stressors Over the Life Course and Neuroendocrine System Dysregulation in Costa Rica
Omer Gersten, William H. Dow, and Luis Rosero-Bixby
Journal of Aging and Health, 2010, 22(6):748-771
Neuroendocrine Biomarkers, Social Relations, and the Cumulative Costs of Stress in Taiwan
Omer Gersten
Social Science & Medicine, 2008, 66(3):507-519
(Two invited commentaries on my article by experts in the field and my response to the commentaries (i.e., rejoinder) are below.)
The Cancer Transition in Japan since 1951
Omer Gersten and John R. Wilmoth
Demographic Research, 2002, 7(5):271-306

Invited Commentaries and Rejoinders

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
Omer Gersten
Social Science & Medicine, 2008, 66(3):531-535

My rejoinder above was in response to Loucks, Juster, and Pruessner's commentary and McDade's commentary to my original Social Science & Medicine article.
Commentary: Liver Cancer and the Epidemiological and Cancer Transition Theories
Omer Gersten
International Journal of Epidemiology, 2005, 34(2):403-4

I was invited to comment on Shibuya and Yano's paper about liver cancer rates in Japan, which appears in the same issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Book Chapters

The Adrenals and Pituitary -- Stress, Adaptation, and Longevity
Paola S. Timiras and Omer Gersten
Physiological Basis of Aging and Geriatrics, 4th ed. (Paola S. Timiras, editor). 2007, pp. 137-57, New York: Informa Healthcare

Book Reviews

Book Review: How and Why Species Multiply: The Radiation of Darwin's Finches by Peter R. Grant and B. Rosemary Grant
Omer Gersten
The European Legacy, 2009, 14(4):480-81
Book Review: The Selfish Gene, 3rd ed. by Richard Dawkins
Omer Gersten
The European Legacy, 2007, 12(6):762

Dissertation

Bridging the Biological and Social Worlds: Neuroendocrine Biomarkers, Social Relations, and the Costs of Cumulative Stress in Taiwan
Omer Gersten
Ph.D. Dissertation, 2005, University of California, Berkeley

Technical Reports

Cancer in Developing Countries of the Pacific Rim: The Current and Future Health Burden
Omer Gersten
Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, 1998, Washington, DC