Evolutionary Insights into the Mysteries of the Female Body

Evolutionary Insights into the Mysteries of the Female Body

Thursday, May 21
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm (Pacific)

Since Deena Emera was a kid, she’s been fascinated by evolutionary science and loves to share her curiosity with others. She’s spent most of her career studying the evolution of the female body. In this talk, she’ll share some amazing vignettes about the evolution of female animals, such as ducks, dolphins, and of course humans. Through these stories, she hopes to show how evolutionary insights can help us better understand the idiosyncrasies of our own bodies and lead to improvements in women’s health.

This program has been organized by IWF NorCal members Ann Blackburn and Dottie Dutton as part of the IWF NorCal Women's Health series.

Date: Thursday, May 21st

Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm (Pacific)

Location: via Zoom (Zoom details will be provided in the Event Registration confirmation email).

Cost: Free but registration is required. Open to all IWF Members and IWF Fellows.

Speaker Bio: Deena Emera, PhD, is an evolutionary biologist, author, and teacher. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley, a master’s degree in Physical Anthropology from NYU, and a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Yale. She currently serves as a senior scientist at the Buck Institute’s Center for Healthy Aging in Women, where she is investigating the genetic basis of reproductive longevity in female mammals. She is also committed to science communications, writing articles featured in news outlets such as the San Francisco Chronicle and Boston Globe, and recently publishing a book. In “A Brief History of the Female Body” (Sourcebooks, 2003) Deena draws on her expertise as a biologist and experience as a mother of four to explore the mysteries of the female body through an evolutional lens.