Biograpical Information
Dr. Tara Cepon-Robins is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. As a Human Biologist, she is interested in the effects of lifestyle and environmental change on human health, growth and development, and aging. Specifically, her research explores how social/economic change and environmental variation alter pathogen exposure, contributing to immune system dysregulation, inflammation, and immunoregulatory conditions (e.g., allergies and autoimmunity). She conducts research internationally among the Indigenous Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador and nationally among rural communities in the southeastern United States. Other research interests include Evolutionary Medicine, disgust psychology as an evolved mechanism for pathogen avoidance, and adaptations to extreme environments.
Research Projects:
Shuar Health and Life History Project
Rural Embodiment and Community Health Project
Education
- PhD: University of Oregon (2015)
- MSc: University of Oregon (2009)
- BA: Marquette University (2007)
Select Publications
- Gildner TE, Blackwell AD, Liebert MA, Urlacher SS, Cepon-Robins TJ, et al. Accepted 2026. Amazonian Shuar testosterone levels are related to parasite infection: Immunocompetence Handicap Hypothesis Implications. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.
- Cepon-Robins TJ, et al. 2025. Soil-transmitted helminths and the intricacies of immunoregulation – Evidence from Amazonian Ecuador for the importance of species-specific considerations within the Old Friends Hypothesis. Am J Hum Bio 37: e70076. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70076
- Langer-Gould A, Cepon-Robins TJ, Gildner TE, Benn Torres J, Yeh EA. 2025. Embodiment of Structural Racism and Multiple Sclerosis Risk and Outcomes in the USA. Nature Reviews Neurology, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-025-01096-5.
- Cepon-Robins TJ. 2024. Chapter 9 - Disgust: An Emotion for Pathogen Avoidance. In: Oxford Handbook of Evolution and Emotions. Oxford University Press.
Manthey CJ, Super M, Cepon-Robins TJ. 2024. Childhood developmental environment affects adult intestinal inflammation levels: Preliminary evidence from older adults in the United States. Annals of Human Biology 51(1): 2427593.
- Cepon-Robins TJ, et al. 2023. Evidence and potential drivers of neglected parasitic helminth and protist infections among a small preliminary sample of children from rural Mississippi. Am J Hum Biol DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23889. (Article chosen as featured cover photo for the issue).
- Gildner TE, Cepon-Robins TJ. 2023. Rural Embodiment and Child Health: An Anthropological Case Study on Biocultural Determinants of Infection Exposure and Immune System Development in the United States. Current Tropical Medicine Reports, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40475-023-00282-z.
- Cepon-Robins TJ, et al., 2022. Exploring biocultural determinants of intestinal health: Do resource access and parasite exposure contribute to intestinal inflammation among a preliminary sample of children in rural Mississippi? Am J Bio Anth DOI:10.1002/ajpa.24574.
- Cepon-Robins TJ, et al. 2021. Pathogen disgust sensitivity protects against infection in a high pathogen environment. PNAS 118: e201855218.
- Cepon-Robins TJ. 2020. Measuring attack on self: The need for field-friendly methods development and research on autoimmunity in Human Biology. Am J Hum Biol 10.1002/ajhb.23544.
- Cepon-Robins TJ, Gildner TE. 2020. Old Friends Meet a New Foe: A potential role for immune-priming parasites in mitigating COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health 2020: 234-248.
- Gildner TE, Cepon-Robins TJ, et al. 2020. Associations between market integration and soil-transmitted helminth infection among the Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador. PLoS ONE 15: e0236924.
- Cepon-Robins TJ, et al. 2019. Soil-transmitted helminth infection and intestinal inflammation among the Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador. Am J Phys Anth 170 (1).
- Urlacher S, Ellison PT, Sugiyama LS, Pontzer H, Eick G, Liebert MA, Cepon-Robins TJ, et al. 2018. Tradeoffs between immune function and childhood growth among Amazonian forager-horticulturalists. PNAS 115: E3914-3921.
- Gildner TE, Cepon-Robins TJ, et al. 2016. Regional variation in Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura infections by age cohort and sex: effects of market integration among the indigenous Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador. Physiological Anthropology 35.
- Cepon-Robins TJ, et al. 2014. Soil-transmitted helminths prevalence and infection intensity among geographically and economically distinct Shuar communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon. J Parasitol 100(5): 598-607.
- McDade TW, Tallman PS, Madimenos FC, Liebert MA, Cepon TJ, Sugiyama LS, Snodgrass JJ. 2012. Analysis of variability of high sensitivity C-reactive protein in lowland Ecuador reveals no evidence of chronic low-grade inflammation. Am J Hum Biol 24: 675-681.
- Cepon TJ, et al. 2011. The effects of circumpolar adaptation and lifestyle on the development of autoimmune thyroid disorders among the Yakut of Siberia. Am J Hum Biol 23(5): 703-709.
See Full CV for more.
Courses Taught (and example syllabi)
ANTH 1030: Introduction to Biological Anthropology
ANTH 3350: Forensic Anthropology
ANTH 3360: Methods in Biological Anthropology
ANTH 3370: Human Biology and Ecology
ANTH 4300: Pandemics in Anthropology
ANTH 4330: Parasites in Human Evolution
ANTH 4980: Senior Seminar - Critical Race Theory in Anthropology
ANTH 4980: Senior Seminar - Anthropology of Climate Change
ANTH 4980: Senior Seminar - Inequality and the Body