Natalie is a PhD Candidate in the Anthropology department at UC Davis. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Chapman University in 2013 and her MA in Anthropology from UC Davis in 2019. She is interested in a wide array of topics regarding genetic architecture and the evolution of human traits, especially as they relate to health and reproduction. Her current research focuses on investigations of the effects of mutation load on fitness and recent selection in the HLA within populations in southern Africa.