William H Durham

William Durham is an evolutionary biologist who works to integrate the fields of anthropology and biology. After studying cultures in Latin America and West Africa, Durham formulated a theory that he calls “coevolution,” wherein the characteristics of various groups within a species are shaped by the interplay of genetics, environment, and (in humans) culture. His basic approach is to combine population biology and quantitative analytic methods, as well as genetics and evolutionary theory. Durham is the Bing Professor of Human Biology and the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki University Fellow of Anthropological Sciences at Stanford University. He began teaching at Stanford in 1977 and was the director of the Program in Human Biology (1992-1995). Durham received a B.S. (1971) from Stanford University, and an M.S. (1973) and a Ph.D. (1977) from the University of Michigan.