Jennifer Raff

Jennifer Raff is a writer and anthropological geneticist, specializing in understanding the history of human populations through an examination of DNA from living people and their ancestors. She studied biology and biological anthropology at Indiana University, earning a dual-major PhD before doing postdoctoral research at the University of Utah, Northwestern University, and the University of Texas. In 2015, she joined the faculty at the University of Kansas Lawrence, where she is currently an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Affiliate Faculty in the Indigenous Studies Program. She works with tribes across North America to investigate historical questions using genomics. Her scholarship focuses on the initial peopling of the Americas and regional histories across the North American Arctic and mid-continent, and advocates for greater recognition of tribal sovereignty in genetics research. She has written for the public on genetics, history, race, and science literacy at various places including the New York Times, The Guardian, Scientific American, and Forbes. Her first book, Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas (Twelve Books, 2022), was a New York Times bestseller and received the 2023 Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the American Anthropological Association W.W. Howells book award, and the Human Biology Association book award.