Contact Information

Address:   1165 E 3rd St, Bloomington, IN 47401

                     Morrison Hall, Room 329

Phone:     (812) 855-7686

Email:       vitzthum@indiana.edu

Education

1986 University of Michigan, PhD, Anthropology

1980 University of Michigan, MA, Biological Anthropology

1977 Queens College, BS/BA, Biology and Anthropology

Geographical Areas of Specialization

Bolivia, Mongolia, Germany, Greenland

Research Interests

Evolutionary theory (life history theory, reproductive ecology), variation in human female reproduction, contraceptive technology, women’s and children’s health

Appointments

2008 - Present: Professor, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University

Other Affiliations: Gender Studies; Center for Training in Research Diversity; Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior

2008 - Present: Senior Scientist, The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Indiana University

Additional Duties

2012-2016: Treasurer, Human Biology Association

Profile

An evolutionary biologist, Dr. Vitzthum’s work of the past 20 years has focused on the determinants of variation in human female reproductive functioning. During the mid-90s at the Bolivian Institute for High Altitude Biology, Vitzthum directed Project REPA, a longitudinal study of hormonal variation in highland Bolivian women. Vitzthum found unequivocally that lower hormone levels were normal for Bolivian women. Despite living at a high altitude and consuming an average of only 1800 calories a day, they were able to conceive with lower hormone levels than are considered normal for American women.

Vitzthum’s most recent work is focused on the causes of this hormonal variation. In 2006 she studied nomadic Mongolian herders, whose caloric intake is similar to Bolivians but whose consumption of animal fat is closer to that of Americans. She spent 2007-8 at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, measuring hormone levels in women born in the former East and West Germanys, where both diet and activity patterns differed before reunification.

“What we eat and what we do is at the heart of the intersection between biology and culture. Especially important is whether an adult experience of diet and exercise differs dramatically from one experienced in childhood. Who we are as adults is very much a reflection of who we were as children.”

Vitzthum sees her work as a bridge to the world of applied health policy such as to contraceptive technology, where less hormonal variation among woman and populations is assumed than her research indicates.

Read an interview with Dr. Vitzthum, "Scientist at Work. (IU newsroom, 8/09)

Recent Awards & Grants

National Science Foundation Grant (2011-2013), Project: "EAGER: Testing genotype-hormone associations in circumpolar ancestral and descendant populations," Co-investigators: Virginia J. Vitzthum, Gregory E. Demas, Jamie L. Renbarger, Kenneth P. Nephew.

American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, elected 2011.

Selected Publications

Harris, A.L., & Vitzthum, V.J. (2013). Darwin's Legacy: An evolutionary view of women's reproductive and sexual functioning. Journal of Sex Research 50(3-4): 207-246.

Vitzthum, V. J., Thornburg, J., and Spielvogel, H. (2009). Seasonal modulation of reproductive effort during early pregnancy in humans. American Journal of Human Biology. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.20936. Online version available at Wiley Interscience website.

Vitzthum, V. J., Worthman, C. M., Beall, C.M., Thornburg, J., Vargas, E., Villena, M., Soria, R., Caceres, E. and Spielvogel, H. (2009). Seasonal and circadian variation in salivary testosterone in rural Bolivian men. American Journal of Human Biology. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.20927. Online version available at Wiley Interscience website.

Vitzthum, V.J. (2008). Evolutionary models of women’s reproductive functioning. Annual Review of Anthropology. 37: 53-73.

Vitzthm, V. J., & Ringheim, K. (2005). Hormonal contraception and physiology: A research-based theory of discontinuation due to side effects. Studies in Family Planning, 36(1): 13–32.

Vitzthum, V.J., Spielvogel, H., Thornburg, J. (2004). Interpopulational differences in progesterone levels during conception and implantation in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101(6): 1443-1448.

Vitzthum, V.J. (2001). The home team advantage: Reproduction in women indigenous to high altitude.  The Journal of Experimental Biology, 204: 3141–3150.