Dr. Thomas Mcdade

Biography

Thom McDade is a biological anthropologist specializing in human population biology. His work is primarily concerned with the dynamic interrelationships among society, biology, and health across the life course, emphasizing life course approaches to stress and the human immune system. He focuses on the development and application of minimally-invasive methods that integrate physiological measures in population-based research, a major area of interest. His prior research includes work in Samoa, and he has ongoing research in Bolivia and Ecuador that investigates local cultural transitions associated with globalization and their effects on human development and health. His research in the Philippines explores the long-term developmental consequences of early nutritional and microbial environments. Currently, he is applying conceptual and methodological tools to U.S.-based research on health disparities, with an emphasis on the potential contributions of stress in early environments. Dr. McDade is the Director of the Laboratory for Human Biology Research and the Cells to Society (C2S): Center on Social Disparities and Health. He is also the Director of the Graduate Cluster in Society, Biology, and Health. McDade's work has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. He was a 2002 recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Recent courses taught include Evolution of Life Histories, Methods in Human Biology Research, Human Growth & Development, Logic of Inquiry in Biological Anthropology, and Stratification, Stress, and Health.

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