A clinical neuropsychologist and environmental epidemiologist, Aaron Reuben studies the interplay of the physical environment with brain health across the lifespan, focusing on environmental hazards like chemical toxicants or natural disasters and environmental amenities like parks, green-spaces and walkable neighborhoods.  

Reuben holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Duke University and a master’s in environmental management from Yale University. He is a former study coordinator for Columbia University's Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, an environmental policy researcher at the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, a presidential policy intern at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and a communications officer for the International Union for Conservation of Nature. He holds the Richard Merritt Jr. Memorial Award for Excellence in Science Journalism and is a 2023 winner of the Cozzarelli Prize of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences for “major contributions” to the field. He is currently writing a book on the global history of lead for Harvard University Press.  

This year Reuben intends to recruit students to participate in a randomized-controlled trial of “nature exposure” and mental health in the Fall semester, and he will teach abnormal psychology in the spring.