Columbia University Health & Society Scholar, Cohort 6
Kristin Harper’s previous work focused on the origin and evolution of the treponemes: the bacteria that cause syphilis, yaws, and bejel. In particular, she used genetics to assess whether Christopher Columbus brought syphilis from the New World to the Old, to investigate which genes are likely to underlie sexual transmission in syphilis, and to determine how long the history of yaws has been intertwined with that of humans. As a Health and Society Scholar, she will shift her focus from pathogens to humans by investigating how nutrition affects our susceptibility to various diseases. In particular, she will investigate the relationship between trace metal levels, baseline mutation rates, and diseases such as schizophrenia and cancer.
Education & Training
Emory University, Ph.D. Population Biology, Ecology, and Evolution, 2008
Emory University, M.P.H. Global Epidemiology, 2008
Reed College, B.A. Biology, 2002
Affiliations
Contact Information
Mailman School of Public Health
722 West 168th Street, 1611 New York, NY 10032
USA
Phone
work: 212-305-9776
fax: 212-342-5169
Email : kh2383@columbia.edu
Harper, Kristin, Hsi Liu, Paolo Ocampo, Bret Steiner, Amy Martin, Keith Levert, Dongxia Wang, Madeline Sutton, and George ArmelegosThe Sequence of the Acidic Repeat Protein (arp) Gene Differentiates Venereal from Non-Venereal T. pallidum Subspecies, and the Gene Has Evolved Under Strong Positive Selection in the Subspecies that Causes Syphilis
Harper, Kristin, Paolo Ocampo, Bret Steiner, Robert George, Michael Silverman, Shelly Bolotin, Allan Pillay, Nigel Saunders, and George ArmelegosThe Origin of the Treponematoses: A Phylogenetic Approach.
Armelagos, GJ and KN Harper. 2005. “Genomics At the Origins of Agriculture: Part I.” Evolutionary Anthropology. 14 (2): 68-77.
Armelagos, GJ and KN Harper. 2005. “Genomics At the Origins of Agriculture: Part II.” Evolutionary Anthropology. 14 (3): 109-121.
Armelagos, GJ and KN Harper. 2005. “Disease Globalization in the Third Epidemiological Transition.” In: Globalization, Health, and Environment: an Integrated Perspective. Greg Guest, ed. Maryland: Altamira Press. 27-53.
