Shuar Health & Life History Project
(Est. 2005)
Felicia Madimenos, Associate Professor
Queens College
I am a broadly trained biological anthropologist whose research focuses on human variation in health and how evolutionarily novel factors shape human biology. Since 2007, I have conducted fieldwork in Amazonian Ecuador, and most recently, as Co-Director of the Shuar Health and Life History Project. The project focuses on a number of different dimensions of health, subsistence, economy, and demography among the Shuar forager-horticulturalists. Many Shuar, as is common in developing regions, are currently experiecing rapid integration into a market economy. My research documents the biological consequences of this transition while highlighting the ways in which local ecological conditions shape Shuar life history. My work has implications for the evolution of health and disease and allows for a better understanding of chronic disease risk in industrialized countries. Moreover, I am interested in the mechanisms that support the role that early developmental life plays in shaping adult health.
Madimenos Curriculum Vitae: PDF
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SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (beginning with most recent)
Madimenos FC, Gildner TE, Eick GN, Sugiyama LS, Snodgrass JJ. 2022. Expanding health care access and stakeholder engagement in remote/rural, Indigenous, and resource-limited settings through point-of-care-testing. Invited manuscript - Special Issue: Biomarkers. Am J Hum Biol: e23808. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23808. (PDF)
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Barrett TM, Liebert MA, Eick GN, Ridgeway-Diaz JG, Madimenos FC, Blackwell AD, Urlacher SS, Sugiyama LS, Snodgrass JJ. 2021. Age -Related Patterns of Cytomegalovirus Antibodies accompanying Epstein-Barr virus co-infection. Am J Hum Biol: e23713. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23713.
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Gildner TE, Eick GN, Schneider AL, Madimenos FC, Snodgrass JJ. After Theranos: Using point-of-care testing to advance measures of health biomarkers in human biology research. 2021. Invited manuscript – Special Issue: Biomarkers. Am J Hum Biol: e23689. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23689. (PDF)
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Cepon-Robins TJ, Blackwell AD, Gildner TE, Liebert MA, Urlacher SS, Madimenos FC, Eick GN, Snodgrass JJ, Sugiyama LS. Pathogen disgust sensitivity protects against infection in a high pathogen environment. PNAS 118 (8): e2018552118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2018552118. (PDF)
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DeLouize AM, Liebert MA, Madimenos FC, Urlacher SS, Schrock JM, Cepon-Robins TJ, Gildner TE, Blackwell AD, Harrington CJ, Amir D, Snodgrass JJ, Sugiyama LS. Low prevalence of anemia among the Indigenous Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador. Am J Hum Biol 34(1): e23590. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23590. (PDF)
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Urlacher SS, Snodgrass JJ, Dugas LR, Madimenos FC, Sugiyama LS, Liebert MA, Joyce CJ, Terán E, Pontzer H. Childhood daily energy expenditure does not decrease with market integration and is not related to adiposity in Amazonia. J Nutr 151(3): 695-704. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxaa361. (PDF)
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Gildner TE, Cepon-Robins TJ, Liebert MA, Urlacher SS, Schrock JM, Harrington CJ, Madimenos FC, Snodgrass JJ, Sugiyama LS. 2020. Market integration and soil-transmitted helminth infection patterns among indigenous Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador. PLOS One 15(7): e0236924. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236924. (PDF)
Eick G, Madimenos FC, Cepon-Robins TJ, Devlin M, Kowal P, Sugiyama LS, Snodgrass JJ. 2020. Validation of an ELISA assay for osteocalcin, a marker of bone formation, in dried blood spots. Am J Hum Biol https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23394. (link)
Madimenos FC, Liebert MA, Cepon-Robins TJ, Urlacher SS, Snodgrass JJ, Sugiyama LS, Stieglitz J. 2020. Disparities in bone density among contemporary Amazonian forager-horticulturalists: Cross-population comparison of the Tsimane and Shuar. Am J Phys Anthropol 171(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23949. (PDF)
Cepon-Robins TJ, Gildner TE, Schrock J, Eick G, Bedbury A, Liebert M, Urlacher SS, Madimenos FC, Harrington CJ, Amir D, Bribiescas RG, Sugiyama LS, Snodgrass JJ. 2019. Soil-transmitted helminth infection and intestinal inflammation among the Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador. Am J Phys Anthropol 170(1):65-74. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23897. (PDF)
Christopher L, Madimenos FC, Bribiescas RG, Urlacher SS, Snodgrass JJ, Sugiyama LS, Pontzer H. 2019. High energy requirements and water throughput of adult Shuar forager-horticulturalists of Amazonian Ecuador. Am J Hum Biol (PDF)
Stagaman K, Cepon-Robins TJ, Liebert MA, Gildner TE, Urlacher SS, Madimenos FC, Guillemin K, Snodgrass JJ, Sugiyama LS, Bohannan BJ. 2018. Market integration predicts human gut microbiome attributes across a gradient of economic development. Msystems 3(1):e00122-17; DOI: 10.1128/mSystems.00122-17. (PDF)
Gerber LM and Madimenos FC. 2016. Bone health in midlife women. In Biological measures of human experience across the lifespan: making visible the invisible. (Editors) LL Sievert and DE Brown. Springer Press. Pg 255-273. (PDF)
Gildner TE, Cepon-Robins TJ, Liebert MA, Urlacher SS, Madimenos FC, Snodgrass JJ, Sugiyama LS. 2016. Regional variation in Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura infections by age cohort and sex: effects of market integration among the indigenous Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador. J Physiol Anthropol 35:28-38. (PDF)
Stieglitz J, Madimenos FC, Kaplan H, Gurven M. 2016. Calcaneal quantitative ultrasound indicates reduced bone status among physically active adult forager-horticulturalists. Bone Miner Res 31(3):663-671. (PDF)
Urlacher SS, Liebert MA, Snodgrass JJ, Blackwell AD, Cepon-Robins TJ, Gildner TE, Madimenos FC, Amir D, Bribiescas RG, Sugiyama LS. 2016. Heterogeneous effects of market integration on subadult body size and nutritional status among the Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador. Ann Hum Biol 43:316-329. (PDF)
Madimenos FC. 2015. An evolutionary and life history perspective on osteoporosis. Ann Rev Anthropol 44:189-206. (link)
Madimenos FC, Liebert MA, Cepon TJ, Snodgrass JJ, Sugiyama LS. 2015. Determining osteoporosis risk in older Colono adults from rural Amazonian Ecuador using calcaneal ultrasonometry. Am J Hum Biol 27: 139–142. (PDF)
Stieglitz J, Beheim BA, Trumble BC, Madimenos FC, Kaplan H, and Gurven M. 2015. Low mineral density of a weight-bearing bone among adult women in a high fertility population. Am J Phys Anthropol 156:637-648. (PDF)
Cepon-Robins TJ, Liebert MA, Gildner TE, Urlacher SS, Colehour AM, Snodgrass JJ, Madimenos FC, Sugiyama LS. 2014. Soil-transmitted helminth prevalence and infection intensity among geographically and economically distinct Shuar communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon. J Parasitol 100(5):598-607. (PDF)
Liebert MA, Snodgrass JJ, Blackwell AD, Madimenos FC, Sugiyama LS. 2013. The effects of market integration on blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels in an indigenous lowland Ecuadorian population. Ann Hum Biol 40(3):228-242. Recipient of the Nick Norgan Award for best paper published in 2013. (PDF)
Madimenos FC, Snodgrass JJ, Liebert MA, Cepon TJ, and Sugiyama LS. Reproductive effects on skeletal health in Shuar women of Amazonian Ecuador: a life history perspective. 2012. Am J Hum Biol 24(6):841-852. (PDF)
McDade TW, Tallman P, Madimenos FC, Liebert MA, Cepon TJ, Sugiyama LS, Snodgrass JJ. 2012. Analysis of biovariability of high sensitivity C-reactive protein in lowland Ecuador reveals no evidence of chronic low-grade inflammation. Am J Hum Biol 24(5):675-681. (PDF)
Madimenos FC, Snodgrass JJ, Blackwell AB, Liebert MA, Sugiyama LS. 2011. Physical activity in an indigenous Ecuadorian forager-horticulturalist population as measured using accelerometry. Am J Hum Biol 23(4):488-497. (PDF)
Madimenos FC, Snodgrass JJ, Blackwell AB, Liebert MA, Cepon TJ, Sugiyama LS. 2011. Normative calcaneal quantitative ultrasound data for the indigenous Shuar and non-Shuar Colonos of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Archives of Osteoporos 6:39-49. (PDF)
Blackwell AD, Gurven MD, Sugiyama LS, Madimenos FC, Liebert MA, Martin MA, Kaplan HS, Snodgrass JJ. 2011. Evidence for a peak shift in a humoral response to helminths: Age profiles of IgE in the Shuar of Ecuador, the Tsimane of Bolivia, and the U.S. NHANES. PLoS Neglect Trop D 5: e1218. (PDF)
Blackwell AD, Snodgrass, JJ, Madimenos FC, Sugiyama LS. 2010. Life history, immune function, and intestinal helminths: Trade-offs among immunoglobulin E, C-reactive protein, and growth in an Amazonian population. Am J Hum Biol 22(6):836-848. (PDF)
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Nelson GC, Madimenos FC. 2010. Obelionic cranial deformation in the Puebloan Southwest. Am J Phys Anthropol 143(3):465-472. (PDF)
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