Directory

Sharon Williams

Human Biology; Reproductive Ecology; Adaptation, Aging and Health; Biomedical Anthropology; Psychosocial Stress and Health; Indigenous populations of N.E. India; Field Methods in Human Biology Research; Laboratory Analysis of Biological Samples.

Dr. Williams’ work focuses on the intersection between behavior, ecology, biology and health.  She is currently working with researchers from the University of Chicago on the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) – a community based study of older Americans.  She also maintains an active field site in Sikkim, India where she works with Bhutia women to understand the impact of modernization and political change on health and reproduction.  In addition to field-based research, Dr. Williams also maintains a working laboratory for human biology research and has worked to develop new field friendly methods of biological data collection as well as new assays to analyze these samples for ELISA and Luminex platforms.  She has presented papers at national and international conferences and has been invited to present papers at conferences on Physiological Anthropology and Biomarkers.  She is currently the treasurer for the Association of Anthropology and Gerontology (AAGE).  She has taught courses on Physical Anthropology, Human Adaptation, Modern Human Variation, Reproductive Ecology,  the Anthropology of Aging, Gender and Global Health, Human Evolution, and Anthropological Population Genetics.