Meet Jane Buikstra

Regents Professor Jane Buikstra is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. She is credited with forming the discipline of bioarchaeology, which applies biological anthropological methods to the study of archaeology. She was also the founding director of the Center for Bioarchaeological Research at Arizona State University. 

Buikstra’s international research encompasses bioarchaeology, paleopathology, forensic anthropology and paleodemography. Among her current work is an investigation of the evolutionary history of ancient tuberculosis in the Americas based on archaeologically recovered pathogen DNA.

Recent awards include the American Academy of Forensic Sciences’ T. Dale Stewart Award and the Charles R. Darwin Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.

Buikstra is the president of the Center for American Archeology and has served as past president of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, the American Anthropological Association and the Paleopathology Association. She is the inaugural editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Paleopathology.

The author of more than 25 books and 200 articles, Buikstra has mentored 60+ doctoral students.

Learn more about Dr. Buikstra here!