Evolutionary medicine

Evolutionary medicine is a fast growing research field within the life sciences that applies modern evolutionary theory to the study of health and disease. It aims to understand not only how people become sick (based on molecular, physiological and neurobiological mechanisms), but why people become sick, based on our evolutionary history and general evolutionary principles. Evolutionary Medicine uses key concepts in evolutionary research, such as trade-offs between different optimal solutions, host-parasite coevolution, life history theory, different modes of Darwinian selection, and the limits to adaptation, both in the past and in our current rapidly changing world. The field has yielded important progress on the understanding and treatment of cancer, infectious diseases and common environmentally dependant diseases, and also has great potential for understanding other aspects of human biology including ageing, the microbiome, vulnerability to infections, immunology, cardio-metabolic diseases and psychological disorders.

At GELIFES we run a BSc course in Evolutionary Medicine and an MSc Integrative Biology track with a profile in Evolutionary Medicine.

Researchers: Frank Chan, Gertjan van Dijk, Hannah Dugdale, Mick Elliot, Yagmur Erten, Niki Gervais, Felicity Jones, Sebastian Lequime, Simon Verhulst, Marjon de Vos