My research is centred on the interaction of cultural behavior and human biology in the past using skeletal biology.

My research program explores the implications of human behavior for human biology among the Maya of Central America and also examines how health may have shaped cultural transitions during ancient Maya history.

Taking a broad comparative and historical perspective on the Maya biocultural past, I focus on three broad areas of biocultural research:
1. reconstruction of prehistoric diets through stable isotopic analysis of bones and teeth,
2. evaluation of health status through pathological lesions on skeletons and through skeletal indications of growth arrest during childhood, and
3. residential mobility using oxygen and strontium isotopes in skeletons which reflect the hydrological and geological origin of their place of birth and residence.

Currently most of my research consists of bioarchaeological analyses of status-related discrepancies in diet and health and of migration at the site of Tikal in Guatemala.

I am involved in collaborative research at several other Maya sites, especially Kaminaljuyu, and Piedras Negras, and have worked on a number of archaeological projects in both Guatemala and Belize.