Recent doctoral graduate Dr. Shalini Mukherjee completed a Ph.D. in Lifespan Developmental Psychology at North Carolina State University, where she collaborated with Dr. Shevaun D. Neupert in the Daily Well-Being in Adulthood Lab. Her dissertation, defended in May 2026, investigates how personal views on aging interact with memory performance and the surrounding ecological world, using intensive daily diary methods to capture lived experience.
The seed of her inquiry was planted during a master’s program in India. She heard peers lament that they were “aging so fast,” despite being in their twenties, prompting her to question whether subjective aging—the way individuals feel about their own age—might influence health irrespective of chronological age. Noticing a dearth of Indian research on this topic, she set out to fill the gap.
Academic pathway and core research questions
At NC State, Dr. Mukherjee built a research agenda that bridges psychology, gerontology, and environmental science. Her primary aim is to map the within-person and between-person dynamics linking self-perceived age, day-to-day cognitive functioning, and the everyday presence of animals and plants. By asking participants to record feelings, memory lapses, and interactions with pets or gardens each evening, she creates a high-resolution picture of how these variables co-vary over time.
Beyond the laboratory, she serves as the Principal Investigator for the India branch of the Subjective AGES (Aging within Global Everyday Ecological Studies) Consortium. This role allows her to compare Indian patterns with data gathered from other continents, testing whether the ecological determinants of healthy aging are universal or culturally specific.
Fieldwork in West Bengal: surprises from the ground
Thanks to the Global One Health Academy Graduate Travel Award awarded in spring 2025, Dr. Mukherjee travelled to West Bengal to collect primary data. The grant covered travel and field expenses, making it possible to administer the daily-diary protocol in rural villages where everyday life intertwines with livestock, street dogs, and small gardens.
The findings ran counter to expectations shaped by Western literature. In many Western samples, feeling older predicts poorer memory performance; however, among the West Bengal participants, a higher self-reported age correlated with *better* everyday memory. Moreover, while prior studies suggested that regular animal contact boosts cognition, the omnipresence of animals in the participants’ environment diluted any measurable advantage. These outcomes highlighted that constructs such as “feeling older” or “animal benefit” are not universally calibrated.
One Health implications and forward-looking plans
Dr. Mukherjee’s work embodies the One Health paradigm, which posits that human health is inseparable from animal and environmental health. By documenting how pet ownership, garden care, and local flora influence older adults’ mood and memory, she provides evidence that community-level interventions—like greening projects or companion-animal programs—could be tailored to cultural contexts to promote “healthy aging.”
Looking ahead, she aims to translate her mixed-methods expertise into academic and applied positions that champion interdisciplinary collaboration. The experience of navigating cross-cultural research, securing international funding, and presenting findings at the Gerontological Society of America’s 2026 Annual Scientific Meeting equips her to lead projects that integrate psychology, ecology, and public health.
