Kelly Blevins
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Phone: 480-965-6215
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Kelly Blevins is a bioarchaeologist who specializes in human osteology, paleopathology, and ancient DNA. She received her BS in Anthropology from Appalachian State University and her MSc in Paleopathology from Durham University. She is currently a PhD student at Arizona State University where she is investigating the relationship between infectious disease epidemiology and demographic shifts, such as urbanization and colonialism, in late Postclassic Basin of Mexico. Her field experience has been geographically diverse, ranging from North Carolina to Egypt. Kelly has a co-authored publication in PLOS One and a co-authored book chapter in A Companion to South Asia in the Past (Robbins Schug and Walimbe, 2016).
Kelly has a special interest in public outreach and community engagement; she has designed and implemented activities introducing children to human evolution, bioarchaeology, and forensic anthropology. She has served as a teaching assistant at the university level for years and holds a substitute teaching certification for grades K-12.
Kelly is interested in the evolution of infectious disease, specifically tuberculosis and leprosy. Her research is situated in the intersection of bioarchaeology, paleopathology, and ancient genomics to understand how human demographic transitions have affected pathogen evolutionary dynamics.