Arizona State University: CEMinar – Melissa Liebert, Stress and Culture Change in Amazonian Ecuador: Insights from the Shuar Health and Life History Project

Dr. Melissa Liebert is a biocultural anthropologist and human biologist who studies the pathways through which social, cultural, and environmental factors become biologically embodied to influence human variation in stress, health, and life history patterns. Her research integrates aspects of human evolutionary biology and adaptability with historical, sociocultural, and political-economic contexts to offer a holistic understanding of human wellbeing with the goal of addressing health inequities for underrepresented and medically underserved populations. As a co-Director of the Shuar Health and Life History Project (https://www.shuarproject.org/), Dr. Liebert examines the effects of cultural and economic changes on health outcomes among the Indigenous Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador. She also conducts community-based research on chronic psychosocial stress and its impact on health among parents and children in northern Arizona. Dr. Liebert is also the Director of the Human Biology and Health (HBH) Laboratory at NAU, which includes facilities and equipment for database management and the preparation of biological samples for analysis of stress physiology, immune function, and cardiovascular and metabolic health. As part of the HBH Lab, Dr. Liebert provides various opportunities for NAU undergraduate and graduate students to engage in human biology research and to learn methods in biocultural anthropology, including community-based fieldwork, minimally invasive biomarker collection, and quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. Zoom link: https://asu.zoom.us/j/81686937630