Anthony Ong

Overview

Anthony D. Ong is Professor of Psychology in the College of Human Ecology and Director of the Center for Integrative Developmental Science and Human Health Labs at Cornell University. He also holds a research appointment at Weill Cornell Medicine, where he is Professor of Gerontology in Medicine. He received his Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of Southern California and completed his postdoctoral training in adult development and aging at the University of Notre Dame.

Research Focus

Ong's research focuses on the dynamic processes that underlie expressions of vulnerability and adaptation across the lifespan and their connections to diverse aspects of psychological functioning and physical health. This work aims to advance understanding of human development and plasticity across multiple levels of analysis, including emotion-cognition interactions, sociocultural processes, and neurobiological systems.

His current research interests include the pathways linking positive emotions to quality living and health morbidities in both clinical and healthy populations; the neurobiology of cultural experience, specifically the psychobiological mechanisms through which everyday experiences of incivility get under the skin to affect disease susceptibility; the social determinants of health in later adulthood, particularly the role of social isolation and loneliness; the nature of perceived responsiveness in close relationships; and the genetic and behavioral phenotypes that account for differential sensitivity to positive experiences.