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CSDE Committees: Executive Committee Member

CSDE Research Areas:

• Health of People and Populations
• Wellbeing of Families and Households

In the News:

• Cesarean Birth and Infant Health and Breastfeeding Outcomes in a Marginalized Indigenous Community in Argentina: Risk Pathways and Local Context (1/3/2021)
• Congratulations to Participants in CSDE’s Grant Writing Workshop (9/26/2019)
• Melanie Martin Finds that Transition Away from Traditional Diet May Undermine Low Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease (11/28/2018)
• Spotlight on CSDE Affiliate, Melanie Martin (10/3/2020)
• CSDE Admin Core – Data Use Agreements and Data Sharing Plans (9/20/2021)
• Martin and Keith participate in NICHD’s Decoding Maternal Morbidity Data Challenge (10/16/2021)
• Congratulations! NIH Announces Martin & Keith Winners in Decoding Maternal Morbidity Data Challenge (12/10/2021)
• Martin and Colleagues Publish New Findings on COVID-19 Transmission and Breastfeeding (1/4/2022)
• New Paper from Martin, Keith, and Colleagues (1/28/2022)
• Martin and Keith to Present Award-Winning Research at the NICHD (2/4/2022)
• CSDE Affiliates Awarded Tier 1 and Tier 2 Population Health Initiative Pilot Grants (4/15/2022)
• Glass, Geerkens, and Martin Publish Systematic Review on Factors Affecting Female Pubertal Timing (6/23/2022)
• Martin, Keith, Eisenberg, and Brindle Publish New Paper in Frontiers in Immunology (10/16/2022)

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I am a biological anthropologist investigating evolutionary and ecological influences on growth and development, and the implications of those relationships for public health. My research, conducted with two indigenous populations—the Tsimane of Bolivia and the Qom/Toba of Argentina—combines field research (focal follows, ethnographic observations, interviews) with laboratory analysis of non-invasive biomarkers and mixed-modeling approaches. My specific investigative questions have been informed by two related tenets of evolutionary biology relevant to human health: (1) that nutritional and ecological conditions in early life can influence metabolic, immunological, and reproductive responses to stimuli in later life, and (2) that many non-communicable diseases result from a mismatch between a people’s current environments, developmental calibrations to environments in early life, and our evolved biology and life history. In working with the Tsimane and the Qom, I am able to study health outcomes in relation to certain behavioral and ecological factors that are more representative of conditions during much of human ancestry—e.g. universal and prolonged breastfeeding, ubiquitous microbial exposure, high infectious disease burdens, early reproduction, and high fertility. At the same time, these study populations are experiencing rapid environmental and social changes affecting developmental and health outcomes across the life course, with broader implications for global health.