Skip to main content
Irsay Institute Indiana University

Meet the People of the Irsay

Meet our directors, faculty leadership, scholars, staff, and advisory board members

Profile photo of Gabriel Varela

Gabriel Varela

Postdoctoral Scholar

Email:
gavarela@iu.edu
Campus:
IU Bloomington

Biography

Gabriel Varela (he/him) received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Duke University in 2025. He is a medical sociologist and network analyst, whose research investigates the complex interplay between social connections and health outcomes, using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. His dissertation explored how collective actions and social networks contribute to the formation of new forms of illness, using mental health self-diagnosis as a case study. He is currently working on projects that examine the association between social connections and cognitive decline. His research has been published in outlets including Social Science & Medicine, Social Networks, and Annals of Epidemiology.