Angelique Corthals

Living World
Friday, December 11, 2009, 7:30 P.M.
Earth and Space Sciences Lecture Hall 001

Forensic Anthropology and Diseases: the Wrath of the Gods

Angelique Corthals

Assistant Professor at CUNY John Jay College for Criminal Justice

Although a relatively new field, the application of molecular scientific methods to the study of ancient civilizations is providing a great deal of new information about the way people lived and died. This lecture will review an introduction to some aspects of this fascinating area, including a special report on the recent research on the Children of Llullaillaco, featured in the this year's National Geographic Explorer program: "Child Mummy Sacrifice".

Dr. Angelique Corthals, an assistant professor at CUNY John Jay College for Criminal Justice, is a forensic scientist specialized in infectious diseases. She is a forensic scientist focused on the past, present, and future of infectious diseases. Her research program uses DNA-based ecology and epidemiology to model the environmental risks of diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria.She earned her D.Phil. from the University of Oxford and has researched and taught at Stony Brook University, the University of Manchester and the American Museum of Natural History. She is a consultant on HIV viral load technology and clinical guidelines in resource limited settings for Doctors without Borders. Corthals has studied human remains in museums and on archaeological and criminal sites around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the museum of High Mountain Archaeology in Argentina and the Valley of the Nobles in Gurnah, Egypt.