Nancy E. Adler, a health psychologist whose work helped transform the public understanding of the relationship between socioeconomic status and physical health, died on Jan. 4 at her home in San Francisco. She was 77.

Dr. Adler was instrumental in documenting the role that education, income and self-perceived status in society play in predicting health and longevity. Today the connection is well known among public health experts that life expectancy is determined more by zip code than genetic code. But it was an obscure notion as recently as 30 years ago.