Maria Soledad Hershey

Maria Soledad Hershey’s research focuses on understanding upstream sociocultural and behavioral determinants of health to advance chronic disease prevention and well-being. Her work bridges epidemiology, lifestyle medicine, and human flourishing. She has studied the potential synergistic interaction between the Mediterranean diet and physical activity, and protective associations of other modifiable lifestyle factors using an overall Mediterranean lifestyle index, on premature mortality and chronic disease. Her previous postdoctoral work at the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University assessed a virtue-based leadership intervention on context-sensitive decision-making and flourishing. She previously completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health as part of the Harvard Educational Resource Center Training Grant, where she conducted the primary analysis of a randomized controlled trial on adherence to the Mediterranean diet in a non-Mediterranean working population. She is passionate about translating empirical research into holistic, evidence-based interventions and policy advocacy for preventive health and well-being.