Cynthia Beall
Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Anthropology; Co-Director, Center for Research on Tibet
Contact
About
Cynthia Beall Prof. Beall is a biological anthropologist whose research focuses on human evolution adaptation to high-altitude hypoxia, particularly the different patterns of adaptation exhibited by Andean, Tibetan and East African highlanders. Her current research deals with the genetics of adaptive traits and evidence for natural selection among ethnic Tibetans. Honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, and receipt of the Raymond Pearl Award and the Franz Boas Distinguished Achievement Award from the Human Biology Society. Professor Beall is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
MEDIA REPORTS ON PROFESSOR BEALL’S RESEARCH:
- Humans are evolving right before our eyes on the Tibetan Plateau
- The Daily: How ethnic Tibetan women thrive in thin oxygen at high altitude
- Superhuman evolution: Tibetan women have adapted to thrive in dangerously thin mountain air
- Thriving at high altitude
- Natural selection in unfolding right now in these remote villages in Nepal
RECENT PUBLICATION(S):
-
2024 Ye S, Sun J, Craig SR, Di Rienzo A, Witonsky D, Yu JJ, Moya EA, Simonson TS, Powell FL, Basnyat B, Strohl KP, Hoit BD, Beall CM. Higher oxygen content and transport characterize high-altitude ethnic Tibetan women with the highest lifetime reproductive success. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Nov 5;121(45):e2403309121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2403309121. Epub 2024 Oct 21. PMID: 39432765.
- 2023 Beall, C. M. Climate-Related Human Biological Variation, pages 140 – 166 in A Companion to Biological Anthropology, Second Edition. Edited by Clark Spencer Larsen, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Wiley Online Library DOI:10.1002/9781119828075
- 2022 Beall, C.M., Childs, G., Craig, S. R., Strohl, K. P. Quinn, E. A., Basnyat B., Repeatiblity of adaptive Traits among ethnic Tibetan highlanders. Am J. Hum. Biol. 34(4);e2367
- 2021 Beall, Cynthia M., and Strohl, Kingman P. “Adaptations to High-Altitude Hypoxia.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Oxford University Press, 2018—.published September 29,2021. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.204
- 2021 Beall, Cynthia M., and Strohl, Kingman P. “Adaptations to High-Altitude Hypoxia.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Oxford University Press, 2018—.published September 29, 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.204
RESEARCH AND RESOURCES: