I began my PhD research by studying the deep population structure and complex migration patterns of African hunter-gatherer groups. I continue to be interested in diverse, indigenous populations from around the world who harbor genetic and phenotypic variation that is often overlooked in more commonly studied populations. Motivated by my prior PhD (2009) training in anthropology, I aim to approach questions of human genomic and phenotypic diversity from an interdisciplinary standpoint. My lab uses population genetic and quantitative genetic theory to model processes in human evolution, paired with extensive genomic and phenotypic data from Sub-Saharan African populations. The lab is committed to understanding genetic diversity in under-represented populations and testing the hypothesis that the determinants of phenotypic traits and disease in these populations may be influenced by alleles that are population-specific. We are broadly interested in refining models of human migration and understanding the adaptive significance of healthy phenotypes such as life history traits, pigmentation, height, and infectious disease resistance. We continue to also focus on the complex demographic history of African populations. In collaboration with African geneticists, we currently work with populations at several field sites in South Africa, Namibia and Ethiopia to collect DNA samples, demographic data and biomedical phenotypes. In January 2018, I joined the Dept. of Anthropology and the Genome Center at UC Davis as an Associate Professor.

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