Project Summary Women are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) later in life. The gender disparity can be partially explained by sex-related biological differences and women's longer life expectancy. The remaining portion is ascribed to structural inequalities. Building on prior research, I hypothesize that women's unequal access to employment has contributed to their cognitive disadvantage by restricting their ability to cognitive enrichment through the life course and other valuable employment-related resources. The proposed Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) will give me protected time and resources to undertake additional training in social determinants of ADRD, implementing quasi-experimental analytic methods using life course data, and survey cognitive health assessment. I will also bolster my understanding of the physiological underpinnings of ADRD to be able to pursue an interdisciplinary research agenda. Supported by a team of highly accomplished mentors in neuroscience, psychology, gerontology, epidemiology, and population health, I will carry out innovative and rigorous quasi-experimental studies that approach the question of women's labor force disadvantage implications for cognitive disparities from a life course perspective. First, I will use the Irish TILDA cohort to examine the effects of married women's labor force exclusion on their cognitive outcomes later in life. Second, I will use UK's ELSA data to study the effects of the introduction of paid and protected maternity leave on British women's cognitive outcomes later in life. Finally, I will use American HRS data to evaluate the impact of women's earlier retirement on their cognitive outcomes later in life. The datasets selected combine high-quality social, cognitive, and health data and rich life course histories. The skills and expertise I will gain will put me in a strong position to make major contributions to our understanding of structural determinants of disparities in cognitive health, become an independent NIH-funded researcher, and lay the foundation of my new research program in employment, policy, and cognitive disparities.