| Notes |
Bruce’s view of himself as a molecular sociologist
may have been influenced a bit by my career as a
sociologist. Bruce was my older brother by almost
8 years, so our lives and careers diverged early on.
Nonetheless, we talked often and learned from each
other. Although I was in awe of Bruce’s extraordinary
accomplishments, he was not. He followed my career
with loving encouragement and openly admired my
hands-on engagement in local communities, including
work with the United Way of Mid Coast Maine to
strengthen supports for early childhood development.
An invitation for the two of us to provide the
keynote at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the United
Way deepened our conversations about early childhood and the impact of social inequality on life chances.
This began an unusual and immensely rewarding professional collaboration, as I came to understand through
Bruce that social processes and structures help shape
and reshape the brain, with consequences for behavior
and life trajectories. After several coauthored articles,
our partnership culminated in a joint lecture on the
111th anniversary of our father’s birth, shortly before Bruce’s death. That talk on Inequality and Early
Childhood Adversity: Toxic Stress and Its Epigenetic
Effects at the University of Pennsylvania’s Andrea
Mitchell Center was part of their Reverberations of
Inequality Series and represented well Bruce’s extraordinary interdisciplinary reach, intellectual openness, and deep commitment to science and to social
justice. He was a beloved brother and a cherished
intellectual partner.
Akil and McEwen PNA |