My research evaluates how social and biological conditions influence disparities in

health, using mixed methods and perspectives from endocrinology, immunology, and

anthropology. My dissertation work focuses on the impacts of social stratification and

perceived inequality on metabolic disease risk among Honduran immigrants on

the island of Utila, through their influence on neuroendocrine and immune interactions.

In addition, in a parallel project with the Tsimane and Moseten, two forager-

horticulturalist groups from Bolivia, I am also investigating the effects of changing social

and ecological milieu on metabolic risk through how parasitic infection moderates social

influences on the expression of genes (mRNA) related to stress and inflammation.