Samuel S. Urlacher will be talking about his research at this CEMinar. Dr. Urlacher is an anthropologist and biologist who uses evolutionary theory to better understand variation in human physiology, behavior and health. He is particularly interested in how humans have evolved to manage energetic resources across the life course and the impact of economic development on child growth, immune function and metabolic health (e.g., obesity, chronic inflammation, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes).

The Human Evolutionary Biology and Health Lab that he directs in the Department of Anthropology at Baylor University specializes in the measurement of total daily energy expenditure (via doubly labeled water stable isotope analysis), basal metabolism (via indirect calorimetry) and immune/growth biomarkers and hormones (via ELISA and other methods). His long-term field research is performed with small-scale populations in Ecuador, Papua New Guinea and Mexico. His work addresses fundamental topics in anthropology and evolutionary biology, but it also strives to reduce health disparities and to improve the lives of the people that participate in his research.