Ariel Azar

Ariel's research focuses on the interplay between policy, political systems, and broader social structures, and their influence on health disparities and overall health trajectories across the lifespan. His work examines how institutional exposures—such as welfare-state arrangements, pension systems, and family policies—shape health outcomes over time, with a particular emphasis on intergenerational dynamics and the role of public policies in structuring health inequalities.

His research extends to international comparisons and covers a range of topics, from healthcare policy preferences to the effects of welfare regimes on family well-being and aging. He has also developed an interest in the development and implementation of sequence analysis methodologies to better capture complex life course processes.

Ariel holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in Sociology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Currently, he is affiliated with the Population Research Institute at Pennsylvania State University as a 2023-2025 Visiting Scholar. He is currently working on a collaborative comparative study examining how institutional contexts shape life course health trajectories and the collection of retrospective data to explore the long-term impact of policy exposures on family structures and well-being.