Amanda Wissler

Amanda Wissler is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at McMaster University. Her research integrates biocultural approaches to study frailty, resiliency, and the intersection of emerging infectious diseases with inequality, racism, and sexism.

• Key Research Areas: 19th/20th Century Epidemics, Bioarchaeology, Epidemiology, Paleopathology, Demography

She employs epidemiological and demographic methods, combining skeletal data with archival information to analyze health and survival during major historical pandemics like the 1918 influenza outbreak. Her recent publications focus on:

• Frailty in historical pandemics
• Data imputation techniques in bioarchaeology
• Indigenous health disparities during epidemics
• Evolutionary consequences of pandemic diseases

Wissler is accepting graduate students for the 2025-2026 academic year with interests in tuberculosis, influenza, and demographic factors in early 20th-century pandemics.