Rachel Carmody

Dr. Rachel Carmody is the Thomas D. Cabot Associate Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, affiliated with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Her research focuses on energy metabolism, gut microbiome interactions, and their evolutionary implications. She leads the Nutritional & Microbial Ecology Lab, exploring how diet, genetics, and microbial communities influence human energy dynamics. Her work integrates evolutionary biology, physiology, and metagenomics to address questions about human uniqueness in digestion, maternal-offspring energy conflicts, and non-caloric dietary components. Office: Museum of Comparative Zoology 542; Email: carmody@fas.harvard.edu.

Key research themes include gut microbiome-modulated obesity, placental hormone roles in pregnancy metabolism, and dietary digestibility frameworks. She also investigates evolutionary shifts in gut microbiota during human industrialization and animal domestication. Her lab employs mouse models, comparative studies, and multiomics approaches to dissect host-microbial interactions.

Recent articles highlight microbiome effects on exercise-induced weight changes, antibiotic-induced obesity mechanisms, and cross-cultural dietary comparisons. While no awards are explicitly listed, her prolific publications reflect sustained impact in nutritional and evolutionary microbiology. No student advisees or grants are detailed in the provided text.