About Me

Research Program

My research examines human variation in aging, health, and behavior from an evolutionary and biocultural perspective. I study how physical activity, social relationships, and changing environments shape physical, cognitive, and psychosocial health across the life course, integrating field research in small-scale populations with analyses of large population-based cohorts.

Areas of expertise: Human Biology; Evolutionary Medicine; Human Aging; Physical Activity and Accelerometry; Social Relationships and Social Connectedness; Cognitive Aging; Biocultural Anthropology; Global Health.

Education & Training

I am currently (2023-present) a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California Santa Barbara, where I work with Dr. Michael Gurven and the Tsimane Health and Life History Project (THLHP).

I earned my Ph.D. in 2023 Integrative and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (advisor: Dr. David Raichlen), and my Master’s in Anthropology from the University of Arizona in 2017. I earned my BA in Anthropology and French in 2013 from the University of Texas at Austin (advisor: Dr. Liza Shapiro). After graduating from UT Austin in 2013, I moved to Nanchang, China for 1 year, where I taught English at the Jiangxi Fashion Institute, where I first become interested in understanding the interplay between lifestyle, environment, and aging.