Susie Lee

Susie Lee is a Research Scientist and Deputy Head of the Laboratory of Fertility and Well-Being at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR). She is also a co-director of the BIOSFER project. Her work integrates biological and social perspectives to study human fertility and reproductive health at the population level, using comparative approaches that include non-human primates.

• PhD in Anthropology, New York University (2013–2019)

Her research focuses on the biological and social determinants of fertility, including maternal age, BMI, pubertal timing, interbirth intervals, and the impact of disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic. She employs both human demographic datasets and primate field data to explore evolutionary and contemporary influences on reproduction. Her work bridges demography, anthropology, and public health.

Her recent publications (2021–2025) show a strong trend in analyzing fertility patterns in response to social and biological factors across diverse populations—from South Korea and Norway to 42 low-income countries. She frequently uses large datasets such as the Demographic and Health Surveys and NLSY79. A unique aspect of her research is the integration of non-human primate studies, particularly on rhesus macaques, to inform human life history evolution.

• PNAS 2019 Cozzarelli Prize nominated

She has taught graduate courses such as "Evolutionary approaches to population health" at MPIDR and served as a teaching assistant at NYU. She has not listed any advisees in the provided materials. Her research is supported by her position at MPIDR and collaborative projects like BIOSFER. She maintains active research profiles on OSF, ORCID, and ResearchGate.

Susie Lee leads and contributes to interdisciplinary research teams focused on fertility, well-being, and life course dynamics. Her laboratory, the Fertility and Well-Being group, conducts population-level studies using both human and primate data, emphasizing methodological rigor and open science practices.