Melanie Martin

Melanie Martin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on biocultural influences on health, growth, and development across the life course, with a particular emphasis on Indigenous communities. She co-directs the Chaco Area Reproductive Ecology (CARE) project in Argentina and participates in the Tsimane Health and Life History Project in Bolivia. Dr. Martin holds a PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2015), and completed postdoctoral training at Yale University (2016-2018). Her work integrates field research, laboratory analyses, and community-based participatory approaches to address questions in reproductive ecology, maternal-child health, and life history theory.

Key research interests include breastfeeding practices, pubertal development, and the interplay between social, environmental, and biological factors influencing health outcomes. She has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Science, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, and Annals of Human Biology. Her recent studies examine the impacts of environmental stressors, such as climate change and pandemic conditions, on human physiology and health behaviors.

Dr. Martin has received prestigious awards including the Michael A. Little Early Career Award (2023) and the Distinguished Alumni Award from UCSB (2023). She currently leads grants from the National Science Foundation and the Canadian Institute of Health Research, and serves on editorial boards for Human Nature and Evolutionary Anthropology. Teaching responsibilities include courses on biocultural perspectives of childcare, evolutionary medicine, and hormones & behavior.