Rachna Reddy

Rachna Reddy is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Utah, with additional affiliations as a Research Associate at the Natural History Museum of Utah and Harvard University's Department of Human Evolutionary Biology. She co-directs the Ngogo Chimpanzee Project in Kibale National Park, Uganda, and conducts comparative studies in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

• Education: BA in Evolutionary Anthropology (Duke University, 2012), PhD in Anthropology (University of Michigan, 2020), Postdoctoral Fellowships at Duke and Harvard

Dr. Reddy’s research integrates primatology, evolutionary psychology, and health studies to understand social relationship foundations of learning, well-being, and resilience. Her 2025 Royal Society article demonstrates shared social curiosity mechanisms between chimpanzees and children, while 2024 work in Animal Behaviour compares maternal intervention strategies across species. Recent PNAS contributions examine viral disease transmission and social cognition evolution.

• Scientific Honors:
  • Mind Brain Behavior Postdoctoral Fellowship (Harvard)
  • Co-Director, Ngogo Chimpanzee Project (2024)

Her work has received funding from the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, and LSB Leakey Foundation. Research collaborations span institutions including Duke Lemur Center and multiple African field sites. Current projects examine adolescent socialization through a multi-species evolutionary lens, with implications for understanding human social development.