I am a biological anthropologist, behavioral ecologist, and human biologist interested in evolutionary approaches to behavior and health. My research topics include substance use, traditional medicines, food-medicines, ethnomedical knowledge, community health, intestinal parasite infections, and antimicrobial resistance. More recently I am investigating mental health and economic attitudes in the face of food insecurity and extrinsic mortality risk among economically vulnerable college students. I have also conducted extensive ethnographic research among Aka foragers of the Central African Republic, Maasai agro-pastoralists in northern Tanzania, and horticulturalists on the island of Dominica, West Indies.
I am Associate Professor of Anthropology at San Diego State University. I am also co-director of the Biological Anthropology Research Laboratory, and director of the Human Behavior and Biology wing, which houses equipment to assay human biological specimens (e.g., saliva, urine) for biomarkers related to drug use, immune function, and life histories. Continue on to see my research projects, publications, and topics and stories I am following. |