Dr. Ernest Gonzales is an Associate Professor and the James Weldon Johnson Professor at New York University, where he leads The Center for Health and Aging Innovation, the Healthy Aging Specialization in Social Work, and Grand Challenge on Advancing a Long, Healthy, and Productive Life. As a critical gerontologist, he investigates risk and protective factors affecting health throughout the lifespan. His research on productive aging—covering education, work, civic engagement, and caregiving—highlights individual, neighborhood, and institutional elements that enhance health, economic stability, and social connections.
Dr. Gonzales has created innovative tools like the Workplace Age Discrimination Scale and the Summative Dis/Advantage Scale to identify factors that bolster the capacity, and choice, to productive engagement in later life. His work has shed light on how ageism, racism, sexism, and other biases impact the ability to work across racially and ethnically diverse populations. Recently, he has focused on early and midlife determinants of cognitive health, examining inequities across race, ethnicity, and gender. Additionally, he explores intergenerational solutions to foster a healthier, more harmonious society, through innovative social policies and practices.
His research is supported by organizations including the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the National Institute on Aging, the U.S. Social Security Administration, AARP Foundation, The Eisner Foundation, and The Samuels Foundation. Dr. Gonzales publishes in top scientific journals and is on several editorial boards, including the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences; Work, Aging, and Retirement; Journal of Gerontological Social Work; and Journal Intergenerational Relations. He has guest-edited special issues for the Clinical Social Work Journal and Generations Journal of the American Society on Aging.
Invited as a content expert for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) and the National Science Foundation, Dr. Gonzales contributes to consensus statements that articulate research frontiers in aging. He has testified on age discrimination before the U.S. Senate Committee on Aging, engaged in debates on aging at The World Bank, and delivered talks at prestigious institutions such as the United Nations, Harvard University, Stanford University, and MIT. He is a Fellow at the Gerontological Society of America and received the Elaine M. Brody Thought Leader Award in 2025. He served as the Director to the MSW Program at NYU’s Silver School of Social Work between 2020-2024. He earned his PhD, MSSW, and BA from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, Columbia University’s School of Social Work, and Hunter College at the City University of New York, respectively.