She received a PhD from the Ohio State University School of Public Health in Health Behavior and Health Promotion, with area specialization in Aging, in 2005. She subsequently completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Intramural Social and Behavioral Research Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health. Dr. Ashida specializes in social network research and investigates the roles of social contexts in maintaining and enhancing individuals’ health and well‐being that facilitates successful aging. She has published in the areas of gerontology and aging, public health genomics, social relationships and health behaviors, and community‐based intervention.