Anatomy and Paleoanthropology, a chat with Dr. Bernard Wood

Premiering at Noon!

I am so excited to welcome you all to the next episode of #TheStoryofUs! On this episode, I am honored to talk to prestigious professor Dr. Bernard Wood of George Washington University. We discuss his career, starting as a surgeon and medical doctor and then finding his way into our deep human past and never looking back. Taking a unique look at our origins from an anatomical point of view, Dr. Wood has been a cornerstone of much of what we understand about hominin anatomy and evolutionary morphology.

“Bernard Wood is The University Professor of Human Origins and Professor of Human Evolutionary Anatomy at George Washington University. Dr. Wood is a medically qualified paleoanthropologist who practiced as a surgeon before moving into full-time academic life in 1972. In 1982, he was appointed to the S.A. Courtauld Chair of Anatomy in The University of London, and in 1985 he moved to The University of Liverpool to the Derby Chair of Anatomy and to the Chairmanship of the Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology. He was appointed the Dean of The University of Liverpool Medical School in 1995 and served as Dean until his move to Washington in the fall of 1997. When he was still a medical student, he joined Richard Leakey’s first expedition to what was then Lake Rudolf in 1968 and he has remained associated with that research group, and pursued research in paleoanthropology, ever since. His research centers on increasing our understanding of human evolutionary history by developing and improving the ways we analyze the hominin fossil record, and on using the principles of bioinformatics to improve the ways we store and collate data about the hominin fossil record. He has a special interest in the recognition of species and genera in the hominin fossil record, and he collaborates with researchers interested in the evolution of non-hominins in the interests of ensuring that we analyze hominin evolution in a proper comparative context. He has written one of the monographs in the series on the Koobi Fora site, and publishes papers on paleoanthropological topics. He is also the editor of the Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Human Evolution.”

If you learned something from this episode, or especially if you enjoyed it, be sure to like, subscribe, and share to support this Open Access, free Human Origins resource. The more we collectively know about our past, the more prepared we can be to create a bright future. Remember, there is always more to learn!

Published by sethchagi

I am a Paleoanthropology Student, so far with two degrees, in Anthropology and Human Behavioral Science, pursuing my B.A and then my PhD I love to read (like a lot) and write, I love my family, and I adore anthropology! Remember, never stop exploring and never stop learning! There is always more to learn!

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