Integrative Anthropology addresses Health Disparities

Integrative Anthropology addresses Health Disparities

Dr. Fatimah Jackson received her Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. (cum laude with Distinction in all Subjects) from Cornell University. Her doctoral dissertation research was on The Relationship of Certain Genetic Traits to the Incidence and Intensity of Malaria in Liberia, West Africa.  She has conducted research on (and is particularly interested in): 1.) Human-plant coevolution, particularly the influence of phytochemicals on human metabolic effects and evolutionary processes and 2.) Population substructure in peoples of African descent, developing Ethnogenetic Layering as a computational tool to identify human microethnic groups and differential expressions of health disparities. Trained as a human biologist, Dr. Jackson has published extensively in such journals as Human Biology, Biochemical Medicine and Metabolic Biology, Journal of the National Medical Association, American Journal of Human Biology, Annals of Human Biology, BMC Biology, and most recently the American Journal of Public Health. Dr. Jackson’s research has been funded by: USAID, Ford Foundation, Huber Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, NIH (NIMHD and NHGRI), Wenner-Gren Foundation, and EPA.

Dr. Jackson has taught at Cornell University, University of California – Berkeley, University of Florida, University of Maryland – College Park (where she is Distinguished Scholar Teacher and Professor Emerita), University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and now at Howard University. She has been a Visiting Scholar at University of Georgia and University of Khartoum in Sudan and she was a Senior Fulbright Fellow in Egypt. She has been awarded the Nick Norgan Award for 2009 Best Article Published in Annals of Human Biology. In 2012, she was the first recipient of the Ernest E. Just Prize in Medical and Public Health Research, Avery Research Institute, College of Charleston and Medical University of South Carolina (University of South Carolina). Also, in 2012, she was also Coined by Rear Admiral Dr. Helena Mishoe, National Institutes of Health, NHLBI and US Public Health Service.

Dr. Jackson has worked extensively teaching and mentoring undergraduates over the past 34 years at the university level. This mentoring has been within the context of honors courses and independent studies as well as regular advising. The University of Maryland named her Distinguished Scholar Teacher in 1995, the same year she made full professor. She has received nearly a dozen awards for her undergraduate mentoring skills, having mentored undergraduates both in laboratory and field settings. Some of her earliest professional publications were with undergraduate collaborators, who have since gone on to have outstanding clinical and academic careers. While at the University of Maryland, College Park, Dr. Jackson initiated the undergraduate journal, Maryland Essays in Human Biodiversity, over 5 years, which published student research efforts, twice annually. Dr. Jackson's applied work has been in the area of applied biological anthropology.