Symposium explores health from evolutionary perspective

Thirteen scientists from around the world will convene at ASU’s new Center for Evolution & Medicine for a symposium exploring questions of medicine and public health from an evolutionary perspective.

The Symposium on Evolution and Global Health, set to take place Oct. 30-31, will address questions such as what humans evolved to eat, what accounts for the growing epidemic of autoimmune disease including multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease, and if an evolutionary approach can help psychiatry settle some persisting controversies.

See a complete schedule and list of panel discussions and speakers.

Directed by Randolph Nesse, Foundation Professor of Life Sciences, the center's mission is to establish evolutionary biology as a basic science for medicine and public health worldwide. 

Evolutionary medicine uses the basic science of evolution to better understand and prevent disease. One major focus is finding the deeper causes of disease. Instead of asking only why some people get sick, it asks why humans have so many traits that make us vulnerable to disease.  

The day after the symposium, participants will work together on five papers being prepared for submission to the Lancet, the world’s leading general medical journal.

Kathleen Holladay
Center for Evolution & Medicine
480-965-9944