The Leakey Foundation is a proud sponsor of the 71st Montagna Symposium on the Biology of Skin. This year’s meeting theme is “Skin of Color Dermatology: The Interaction of Science & Society.”
The Montagna Symposium brings together clinicians, anthropologists, and scientific investigators engaged in the research and treatment of diseases that disproportionately affect skin of color and diseases impacted by social determinants of health.
About The Leakey Foundation
If you’ve found this page through our QR code at the conference, welcome! We hope you’ll explore our site and learn a bit about The Leakey Foundation and our mission to increase scientific research, education, and public understanding of human origins, evolution, behavior, and survival.
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Looking for research funding?
As the leading nonprofit funder of research related to human evolution, we offer a variety of grants, fellowships, and scholarships for research. Click the button below to learn more about our research grants, fellowships, and scholarships.
Looking to learn about evolution?
As part of our educational mission, we offer a wide range of educational content, such as lectures, articles, and podcasts. Click here for a curated collection of lectures and podcast episodes we thought attendees of the 71st Montagna Symposium on the Biology of Skin would enjoy. The collection includes talks by Dr. Tina Lasisi, Dr. Nina Jablonski, and Dr. Zanetta Thayer.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Tina Lasisi
Dr. Tina Lasisi is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, where she leads the Lasisi Lab. Her research explores the evolution and genetic basis of human phenotypic variation, with a focus on pigmentation and hair. She is the 2024 Leakey Foundation and American Association of Biological Anthropologists Communication and Outreach Award honoree.
Dr. Lasisi was featured on The Leakey Foundation’s Origin Stories podcast, she has also given two lectures for The Leakey Foundation on the evolution of human hair.
Featured Speaker: Dr. Melissa Manus
Dr. Melissa Manus leads the Manus Lab and her research applies microbiome science as a tool for addressing questions related to human ecology, evolution, and health. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from Northwestern University and an MSc in Global Health from Duke University. She was a postdoctoral fellow in the THRiVE Discovery Lab at the University of Manitoba. She has conducted field-based research with communities in South Africa, Madagascar, Mexico, and the USA.