Akihiro Nishi

Dr. Akihiro Nishi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He is a social epidemiologist and medical sociologist specializing in social network analysis, network interventions, and evolutionary game theory (Nishi, Social Science & Medicine, 2015).

His research encompasses a broad range of topics, including:

  • Investigating economic inequality and disparities in well-being within online social networks (Nishi et al., Nature, 2015; Nishi et al., Nature Mental Health, 2023)

  • Developing network interventions to address the COVID-19 pandemic (Nishi et al., PNAS, 2020)

  • Evaluating health outcomes associated with nationwide policies in aging societies such as Japan (Tamiya et al., The Lancet, 2011)

  • Promoting motorcycle helmet use in Thailand (Nishi et al., Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2018)

His work has attracted significant media attention, including coverage by The New York Times, CNN, NBC, PBS NewsHour, NHK News 7, and other outlets. At UCLA, he teaches “Epidemiologic Research Using R” (EPI 407) and “Social Network Analysis and Public Health” (EPI 217).

Dr. Nishi leads the Nishi Lab, which welcomes creative researchers—postdoctoral, graduate, undergraduate, and high school students—as well as international collaborators. He is also actively seeking new research projects and partnerships.

Education

  • Doctor of Public Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 2013
  • Master of Public Health, Quantitative Methods, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 2010
  • MD Equivalent (Igakushi), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, 2007

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Selected Publications

  • Nishi A, Inoue K. What epidemiologists can do in the era of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Journal of Epidemiology, https://doi.org/10.2188/jea.JE20240412
  • Nishi A, et al. Status invisibility alleviates the economic gradient in happiness in social network experiments. Nature Mental Health 2023, 1, 990-1000
  • Okubo Y, Nishi A, et al. The consequences of the financial incentive not to prescribe unnecessary antibiotics: A Japan’s nationwide quasi-experiment. International Journal of Epidemiology 2022, 13;51(5): 1645-1655
  • Nishi A, et al. Network interventions for managing the COVID-19 pandemic and sustaining economy. PNAS 2020,117,30285-30294
  • Nishi A, et al. Role of motorcycle helmet use in achieving the National Action Plan in Thailand. Bulletin of World Health Organization 2018,96:5 514-514A
  • Nishi A, Christakis NA. Human behavior under economic inequality shapes inequality. PNAS 2015,112:52 15781-2
  • Nishi A, et al. Inequality and visibility of wealth in experimental social networks. Nature 2015,526,426-429
  • Nishi A. Evolution and social epidemiology. Social Science & Medicine 2015,145, 132-7
  • Tamiya N, Noguchi H, Nishi A, et al. Population ageing and wellbeing: lessons from Japan’s long-term care insurance policy. Lancet 2011,378:9797 1183-92