Edward H. Hagen is a Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Washington State University, Vancouver. He holds a BA in Mathematics from UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from UC Santa Barbara (1999). His postdoctoral work was at Humboldt University, Berlin, under Peter Hammerstein. Since 2007, he has been at WSU, leading the Bioanthropology Lab. His research integrates evolutionary approaches to medicine, focusing on substance use, mental health, child development, and leadership evolution. Key themes include evolutionary medicine, signaling theory in depression/suicidality, and the role of pharmacological plant use in human evolution. He has conducted fieldwork in the Central African Republic, Ecuador, and India. Hagen's work spans theoretical models (e.g., depression as bargaining signals) and empirical studies (e.g., tobacco use and helminth infection in hunter-gatherers). He has secured over $387,000 in grants, including NSF funding for projects on leadership, child signals of need, and smoking behavior. His lab explores topics like music's evolutionary roots (credible signaling hypothesis) and predator deterrence. He is active in academic discourse, critiquing popular theories like Dunbar's social bonding hypothesis for music evolution. His publications span evolutionary psychology, anthropology, and medical journals, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches.






