Robert Waldinger — SPARQNOW

At-a-Glance

Director, Harvard Study of Adult Development at Massachusetts General Hospital (since 2010)
Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (since 2013)
Co-author of "The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness" (2023)
Directs the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which tracked 724 men for nearly 80 years.
His TED talk on lessons from the longest study of happiness has over 40 million views.
Graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College (1973) and completed M.D. at Harvard Medical School (1978).
Zen priest and sensei in both Sōtō and Rinzai lineages.

Biography

Robert J. Waldinger is an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and Zen priest. He serves as a part-time Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, a position he has held since 2013. Since 2010, he has also been the Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the longest-running studies of adult life ever conducted.

The Harvard Study of Adult Development initially tracked the lives of 724 men for nearly 80 years.