Michaela Howells

Michaela Howells is a biological anthropologist and human biologist specializing in transdisciplinary approaches to addressing maternal health disparities following disasters. She is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Colorado State University. Her work is collaborative and elevates the work of community and regional partners to address pressing societal health and equity issues. 

With support from the Hazards Center Quick Response (QR) grant program, she assessed the effect of Hurricane Florence on maternal stress. Using a mixed-methods approach (e.g., interviews, hair cortisol) her team was able to identify compounding disaster risks associated with pregnancy and stress. Building on this QR, they recently compared the pregnancy outcomes from the hurricane to previous years. They found those in their first trimester during the disaster, and those who were unmarried were at the highest risk of negative pregnancy outcomes.

Howells is the Director of the Growth Adaptation Pregnancy Stress Lab. She is an Executive Board member of the Young Women's Christian Association of the Lower Cape Fear Coast, and a recent board member for the New Hanover County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Triangle Research Institute Center for Evolutionary Medicine.

Her team’s work has been published in a variety of journals, including Annuals of Human Biology, Evolution Medicine and Public Health, American Journal of Human Biology, Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, and Public Library of Science One. Her work has been recognized by multiple research, teaching, and service awards.

She is pleased to return to Colorado after living in North Carolina for 12 years and looks to build additional collaborations and partnerships.