Achsah Dorsey

human biology, global health, child growth and development, nutrition, immune function, evolutionary medicine, disease ecology, life-history theory, biocultural perspectives on health and human development, South America, and Sub-Saharan Africa

Achsah Dorsey’s research utilizes life-history and evolutionary medicine perspectives to investigate the relationships between immune activation, body size and growth, and nutritional status in women and children. Her recent research explores the biological, environmental, and cultural links between anemia and infection, the gut microbiome, and home environment in families living in peri-urban communities within Lima, Peru. Dr. Dorsey is currently investigating whether the continued incorporation of locally available resources into individual diets enhances household food security in an era of market and climate disruptions in Chilean Patagonia.

Dorsey AF, AM Azcarate-Peril, RB Burten, J Roach, & AL Thompson. (Forthcoming). Iron regulation and response: The role of iron availability and intestinal microbiota diversity on recovery from childhood anemia. Am J Hum Biol. DOI:10.1002/ajhb.24058

Dorsey AF and EM Miller. (2023). Revisiting geophagy: An evolved sickness behavior to microbiome-mediated gastrointestinal inflammation. Evolutionary Anthropology. 32(6):325-335. DOI: 10.1002/evan.22004

Dorsey AF, ME Penny, & AL Thompson. (2021). Adiposity and pathogen exposure: An investigation of response to iron supplementation and hypothesized predictors in anemic preschool-aged children living in a dual burden environment. Am J Phys Anth. 176(1): 54-65. DOI:10.1002/ajpa.24287

Dorsey AF & AL Thompson. (2020). Child, caretaker, and community: Testing predictors of anemia and response to iron supplementation in Peruvian pre-school-aged children. Am J Hum Biol. 33(6): e23538. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23538

2023-2024        UMass Distinguished Teaching Award Student Nomination
2023-2024        Center for Research on Families Family Research Scholar
2022-2023        Lilly Fellow for Teaching Excellence

2024-2025 Office of Research Development Faculty Research Grant (FRG)
Co-PI with Eric Thomas (Environmental Conservation)

2021-2022  Office of Faculty Development Mutual Mentoring Team Grant
Team: Sarah Gonzalez-Nahm (Nutrition), Zhenhua Liu (Nutrition), and David Sela (Food Science)

Anthropology 273: Peoples and Pathogens: Intro to Disease Ecology

Anthropology 313: Nutritional Anthropology

Anthropology 364: Junior Year Writing - Problems in Anthropology

Anthropology 415: Women’s Health Across the Life Course

Anthropology 510: Advanced Methods in Biomedical Anthropology [Grad]

Anthropology 695MB/Nutrition 695MB: Exploring the Human Microbiome [Grad]

• 2014-2020        Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill 
  Advisor: Dr. Amanda L. Thompson, Title: Iron, Infection, and Malnutrition: An exploration of childhood anemia in a Peruvian peri-urban community.
• 2012-2014        Master of Arts in Anthropology, University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa 
  Advisor: Dr. Jason A. DeCaro, Title: An investigation of sex-differentiated parental care and child health outcomes in Northwest Tanzania
• 2010                 Spring Semester Study Abroad, University of Cape Town, South Africa
• 2007-2011        Bachelor of Science in Biological Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University - University Park

Culture, Health, and Science Program: https://www.fivecolleges.edu/academics/culture-health-and-science-chs

Center for Community Health Equity Research: https://www.umass.edu/health-equity/

Institute of Global Health: https://www.umass.edu/globalhealth/