COURSES TAUGHT

BMS 202 - Anatomy & Physiology Laboratory
BMS 208 - Human Anatomy
BMS 309 - Human Cadaver Laboratory
BMS 355 - Anatomy of Joints
BMS 460 - Regional Human Anatomy
BMS 461 - Prosected Regional Anatomy
BMS 480 - Evolutionary Human Anatomy

EDUCATION

2007 Ph.D., University of the Witwatersrand Medical
School, School of Anatomical Sciences, Johannesburg,
South Africa

2003 M.Sc., University of the Witwatersrand Medical
School, School of Anatomical Sciences, Johannesburg,
South Africa (conversion)

2000 B.A., Arizona State University, College of Liberal Arts &
Sciences, Department of Anthropology, Tempe, Arizona

RESEARCH INTERESTS

I am actively involved in both laboratory and field research. My current lab-based projects include assessing various aspects of hominin (e.g. humans, two species of chimpanzee, their ancestors, and the extinct lineages of their common ancestor) evolutionary anatomy through dissection and non-invasive Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Currently, I have been examining the insertion of the pectoralis minor muscle in the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), as various interpretations of this attachment have been reported throughout the anatomical literature. Clarity of this issue is fundamental for not only understanding the evolutionary structural and functional pathway(s) of the muscle, but also for producing a better understanding the evolution of the hominin shoulder.

Another research area that I have focused on is assessing spatio-temporal variation of stress and developmental stability among extant and extinct mammalian taxa through fluctuating asymmetry (FA). The aim of this research area is to continue exploring the utility and advancement of FA to a variety of modern and prehistoric mammalian species. Deviations from symmetry in bilateral characters have achieved some prominence as measures of developmental (in)stability, revealing greater levels of asymmetry under adverse settings and mirrored target phenotypes under optimal extrinsic (environmental) and intrinsic (genetic) conditions. Increased FA has been associated with dietary, thermal, audiogenic and chemical stresses, but has been reported to decrease when genetic heterozygosity is elevated. Identifying the distribution and expression of FA among (paleo)species that have an extensive and well documented biological history (i.e. through time and space) provides a context for understanding how evolutionary processes and events potentially impact development.

My current paleobiological field research is situated within the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, North-West Province, South Africa, at the fossil-bearing site of Luleche and in the adjoining Provence of Gauteng, at the fossil site of Hoogland. Notable excavations within the Cradle of Humankind and several in eastern Africa have produced rich samples of Pliocene and Pleistocene fossil mammals (including hominins), which have been a major source for interpreting our past. Such excavation and analysis of fossil assemblages from prolific sites has led to a wealthy and detailed understanding of a broader African paleolandscape. As important as these excavations are, the exploration of novel deposits, like Luleche and Hoogland, can only increase our understanding of the variability and richness of African (paleo)species, paleoecosystems, depositional processes, and evolutionary factors that existed in the past.