Interim Director, Center for Galapagos Studies, UNC-CH
Co-Director, Galapagos Science Center, San Cristobal, Ecuador
Professor and Chair, Anthropology, UNC-CH
Professor, Nutrition, UNC-CH
GSC Advisory Board, Ex-officio
Amanda Thompson is a human biologist specializing in human growth and nutrition. She focuses on the biological pathways linking early life social, behavioral and physical environments to the development of obesity and chronic disease across a range of national and international settings, including North Carolina, China, and Ecuador. She is particularly interested in how early life nutrition and environmental exposures shape long-term health and obesity risk.
Research Projects
- Water, Food, and Health in San Cristóbal: The Healthy Family Study
- Food Environments in the Galápagos: Geographic and Behavioral Determinants of Diet and Health
- The Dual Burden of Disease in the Galápagos, Ecuador: An Interdisciplinary Study of Food and Water on Isabela Island
- Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies: The intergenerational effects of maternal stress in the Galápagos Islands
- Feasibility of Educational Support Measures for Parenting Skills and Mental Health Symptoms in Mothers of Young Children in the Galapagos
Publications
- Nicholas KM, Bentley ME, Terán E, Thompson AL. (2019). Water security in the Galápagos: Socioecological determinants and health implications. EcoHealth.
- Thompson AL, Nicholas KM, Watson E, Terán E, Bentley, ME. (2019). Water, food, and the dual burden of disease in Galápagos, Ecuador. American Journal of Human Biology.
- Houck KM, Terán E, Ochoa J, Zapata GN, Gomez AM, Parra R, Dvorquez D, Stewart JR, Bentley ME, Thompson, AL. (2019). Drinking water improvements and rates of urinary and gastrointestinal infections in Galápagos, Ecuador: Assessing household and community factors. American Journal of Human Biology, e23358.
- Thompson AL, Houck KM, & Jahnke JR. (2019). Pathways linking caesarean delivery to early health in a dual burden context: Immune development and the gut microbiome in infants and children from Galápagos, Ecuador. American Journal of Human Biology, 31, e23219.