Amy Non

Amy Non is an assistant professor of Anthropology at UC San Diego. After receiving her PhD in Anthropology at the University of Florida in 2010, she completed a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. In 2012, she became an assistant professor of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University before moving to UC San Diego in 2015. Her specialization is in anthropological genetics, with a focus on the genetic and sociocultural contributors to racial and social inequalities in health. Dr. Non's current research focus is to understand how social experiences can become biologically embedded to affect health throughout the life course. She is currently investigating epigenetic mechanisms, or modifications to the genome, that can link early life adverse environmental exposures with altered gene expression. Her newest project is an investigation of the biological embedding of stress experiences of children of Mexican-born immigrants living in Nashville. In past research, she has also investigated levels of DNA methylation at stress-response genes in children raised in Romanian orphanages. She has also conducted research on the role of African genetic ancestry and sociocultural measures of race and socioeconomic status in explaining racial inequalities in blood pressure, both in Puerto Rico and in the US.