Dr. Jester is a Gerontologist and Social Epidemiologist with training in geriatric mental health, cognitive aging, and health services research. He completed a Ph.D. (Aging Studies) and M.P.H. (Epidemiology) at the University of South Florida and a T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship (Geriatric Mental Health) at UC San Diego School of Medicine. He works as a Biostatistician for the Women’s Operational Military Exposure Network (WOMEN) and War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC) at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. Dr. Jester’s research is focused on how social determinants of health and structural inequities impact cognition and mental health in marginalized older adults, with a particular focus on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Another facet of his work examines nursing home staffing deficits, quality of care disparities in long-term care settings, and adverse health outcomes for vulnerable nursing home residents exposed to natural disasters. Dr. Jester’s research has been funded by the National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Mental Health, Health Resources & Services Administration, The Donaghue Foundation, and The San Diego Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research.

 

SDoH Publications:

Cognition & Mental Health

Sturm, E. T., Thomas, M. L., Sares, A. G., Dave, S., Baron, D., Compton, M. T., Palmer, B. W., Jester, D. J., & Jeste, D. V. (in press). Review of major social determinants of health in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: II. Assessments. Schizophrenia Bulletin.

 

Jester, D. J., Thomas, M. L., Sturm, E. T., Harvey, P. D., Keshavan, M., Davis, B. J., Saxena, S., Tampi, R., Leutwyler, H., Compton, M. T., Palmer, B. W., & Jeste, D. V. (in press). Review of major social determinants of health in schizophrenia-spectrum psychotic disorders: I. Clinical outcomes. Schizophrenia Bulletin.

 

Jester, D. J., Palmer, B. W., Thomas, M. L., Brown, L. L., Tibiriçá, L., Jeste, D. V., & Gilmer, T. (2023). Impact of educational attainment on time to cognitive decline among marginalized older adults: Cohort study of 20,311 adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS). DOI:10.1111/jgs.18340

 

Jester, D. J., Kohn, J. N., Tibiriçá, L., Thomas, M. L., Brown, L. L., Murphy, J. D., & Jeste, D. V. (2023). Differences in social determinants of health underlie racial/ethnic disparities in psychological health and well-being: Study of 11,143 older adults. The American Journal of Psychiatry. DOI:10.1176/appi/ajp.20220158

 

Tibiriçá, L., Jester, D. J., & Jeste, D. V. (2022). A systematic review of loneliness and social isolation among Hispanic/Latinx older adults in the United States. Psychiatry Research. DOI:10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114568

 

Velloze, I. G., Jester, D. J., Jeste, D. V., & Mausbach, B. T. (2022). Interventions to reduce loneliness in caregivers: An integrative review of the literature. Psychiatry Research. DOI:10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114508

 

Mu, C., Jester, D. J., Cawthon, P. M., Stone, K. L., & Lee, S. (2022). Subjective social status moderates back pain and mental health in older men. Aging & Mental Health, 26(4), 810-817. DOI:10.1080/13607863.2021.1899133

 

Exposure to Natural Disasters

Dosa, D. M., Jester, D. J., Peterson, L. J., Dobbs, D., Black, K., & Brown, L. M. (2023). Applying the age-friendly-health system 4M paradigm to reframe climate-related disaster preparedness for nursing home populations. Health Services Research, 58(S1), 36-43. DOI:10.1111/1475-6773.14043

 

Hua, C. L., Patel, S., Thomas, K. S., Peterson, L. J., Andel, R., Gordon, L., Jester, D. J., & Dosa, D. M. (2023). The relationship between exposure to Hurricane Harvey and mortality among nursing home residents. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS), 71(3), 888-894. DOI:10.1111/jgs.18143

 

Dobbs, D., Skarha, J., Gordon, L., Jester, D. J., Peterson, L. J., & Dosa, D. M. (2022). Mortality among nursing home residents enrolled in hospice and hospice utilization post-Hurricane Irma. Journal of Palliative Medicine. DOI:10.1089/jpm.2021.0475

 

Jester, D. J., Peterson, L. J., Thomas, K. S., Dosa, D. M., & Andel, R. (2022). Nursing home compare star rating and daily direct-care nurse staffing during Hurricane Irma. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA), 23(8), 1409-1412. DOI:10.1016/j.jamda.2021.09.038

 

Jester, D. J., Thomas, K. S., Peterson, L. J., Dosa, D. M., Andel, R., & Hyer, K. (2021). Effect of Hurricane Irma on daily direct-care nurse staffing in nursing homes. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS), 69(8), 2298-2305. DOI:10.1111/jgs.17220

 

Skarha, J., Gordon, L., Sakib, N., June, J. Jester, D. J., Peterson, L. J., Andel, R., & Dosa, D. M. (2021). Associations between power loss and mortality and hospitalization in nursing home residents after Hurricane Irma. JAMA Health Forum, 2(11), e213900. DOI:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2021.3900

 

Dosa, D. M., Skarha, J., Peterson, L. J., Jester, D. J., Sakib, N., Ogarek, J., Thomas, K. S., Andel, R., & Hyer, K. (2020). Association between exposure to Hurricane Irma and mortality and hospitalization in Florida nursing home residents. JAMA Network Open, 3(10), e2019460. DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19460

 

Age-Friendly Communities

Black, K. & Jester, D. J. (2020). Examining older adults’ perspectives on the built environment and correlates of healthy aging in an American age-friendly community. International Journal of Environmental Research and PublicHealth, 17(19), 7056. DOI:10.3390/ijerph17197056