David R. Weir is Research Professor in the Survey Research Center of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, and Director of the NIA-funded Health and Retirement Study. Prior to joining ISR, he was Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Research Associate in the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, and the recipient of a Special Emphasis Research Career Award in the Economics and Demography of Aging from the National Institute on Aging. Prior to that he was Associate Professor of Economics at Yale University, working on economic history and historical demography, primarily of Europe. His current research interests include the use of longitudinal data to study chronic disease processes, especially diabetes and dementia; health care decision-making at older ages, including Medicare Part D; how couples jointly plan for risks of old age including retirement, widowhood, and disability; the role of personality factors in lifetime economic success, and the use of biomarkers in population surveys.

Weir received his A.B. in History from the University of Michigan in 1976 and his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University in 1983.