Leslie C. Aiello
President, Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research
The Origins of the Genus Homo
Monday, October 17, 2011
AA-G008, 5:00 PM
Biography
From The Wenner-Gren Foundation:
Leslie became President of the Wenner-Gren Foundation of Anthropological Research in April 2005. The Foundation is the largest private foundation in existence devoted solely to the support of international anthropological research.
Leslie received her BA and MA in Anthropology from the University of California (Los Angeles) and her PhD in human evolution and anatomy from the University of London.
She spent the majority of her academic career (1976-2005) at University College London where she was Professor of Biological Anthropology from 1995. She was also Head of the UCL Anthropology Department from 1996-2002 and Head of the UCL Graduate School from 2002 to 2005. She served as the co-managing editor of the Journal of Human Evolution from 1993-1999, has been the primary supervisor for 23 PhD students, has published books (e.g. An Introduction to Human Evolutionary Anatomy. Academic Press: London. 1990 with Chris Dean) and a number of articles in academic journals and has been active with the media in the public dissemination of science and particularly human evolution. She has served as an officer for a number of anthropological and scientific societies and as a consultant and advisor to a number of international anthropological institutions and initiatives.
Most recently she received the 2006 Huxley Memorial Medal from the Royal Anthropological Institute, an Honorary Fellowship from University College London (2007) and the award of 2007 Musa Urania (Science) from the city of Florence, Italy.