Listen to the latest podcast, featuring biological anthropologists, Dr. Julienne Rutherford.
Dr. Rutherford in front of portrait entitled Psychedelic Placenta, by Mark Mershon, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing
Julienne Rutherford earned her PhD in Biological Anthropology from Indiana University in 2007. She is an assistant professor of Women, Children, and Family Health Sciences and adjunct assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). She is currently the President of the Midwest Primate Interest Group. She is also the Biological Anthropology Section editor for Anthropology News. She was named a Leadership Fellow by the AAA in 2011, and was the 2013 recipient of the American Society of Primatologists Legacy Award. She was recently named the UIC Researcher of the Year “Rising Star” in the Clinical Sciences.
Rutherford’s research revolves around a central interest in the dynamic maternal environment in which a fetus develops. She is primarily interested in the primate placenta as a signaling interface between mother and fetus. She works with both humans and non-human primates to address questions regarding the effect of maternal ecology (nutrition, life history experience, behavior) on placental morphology, metabolic function, and gene expression and downstream sequelae for offspring health both postnatally and later in life. She has published her multifaceted research in American Anthropologist, Placenta, American Journal of Physical Anthropologists, American Journal of Primatology, American Journal of Human Biology, Obesity, and Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences. She recently co-edited the volume Building Babies: Primate Development in Proximate and Ultimate Perspective. Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Society of Primatologists.
Filed under: Anthro in the Media, Association Business, Career/Funding/Awards, Commentary, Podcast/Videocast, Publications 
