Faculty

Assistant Professor
Amy Balanoff, PhD
Research focus:
- Phylogenetic Relationships of Non-avian Dinosaurs
- Structural and Functional Evolution of the Vertebrate Central Nervous System
- Behavioral Imaging of Bird Brains
E-mail: abalano2@jhmi.edu
Smaers JB, Rothman RS, Hudson D, Balanoff A, et al. 2021. The evolution of mammalian brain size. Science Advances 7:eabe2101.
Choiniere J, Neenan JM, Schmitz L, Ford DP, Chapelle KEJ, Balanoff AM, et al. 2021. Specialized nocturnal sensory adaptations in alvarezsauroid dinosaurs. Science 372:610-613.
Watanabe A, Balanoff AM, P.M. Gignac, M.E.L. Gold, M.A. Norell. 2021. Novel neuroanatomical integration and scaling define avian brain shape evolution and development. eLife 10: e68809. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.68809
Ksepka DT, Early CM, Dzikiewicz K, Balanoff AM. 2023. Osteology and neuroanatomy of a Miocene phasianid (Aves: Galliformes) from the Miocene of Nebraska. Journal of Paleontology 97:223-242.
Cerio DG, LLera Martin CJ, Hogan AVC, Balanoff AM, Watanabe A, Bever GS. Early View. Differential growth of the adductor muscles, eyeball, and brain in the chick Gallus gallus with comments on the fossil record of stem-group birds. Journal of Morphology.

Associate Professor
Gabriel Bever, PhD
Research focus:
- Evolution of variability
- Evolution / development of vertebrate skeleton
- Origin of the major tetrapod crown clades
- Fossils and molecules in evolutionary theory
E-mail: gbever1@jhmi.edu
Lyson, T.R., T.M. Scheyer, B.Rubidge, K. de Queiroz, E.R. Schachner, R. Smith, J. Botha-Brink, and G.S. Bever. (2016) Fossorial origin of the turtle shell. Current Biology 26: 1887–1894. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.05.020
Bhullar, B.-A.S., Hanson, M., Fabbri, M., Pritchard, A., Bever, G.S., Hoffman, E. (2016) How to make a bird skull: major transitions in the evolution of the avian cranium. Integrative and Comparative Biology 56: 389-403. DOI: 10.1093/icb/icw069
Bever, G.S., T.R. Lyson, D.J. Field, B.-A.S. Bhullar. (2016). The amniote temporal roof and the diapsid origin of the turtle skull. Zoology.DOI:10.1016/j.zool.2016.04.005

Assistant Professor
Siobhán Cooke, PhD
Research Focus:
- Dental functional morphology
- Masticatory biomechanics
- Platyrrhine evolution
- Caribbean extinction
- Three dimensional geometric morphometrics
- Caribbean and Neotropical mammalian evolution and biogeography
E-mail: scooke5@jhmi.edu
Halenar, L.B., Cooke, S.B., Rosenberger, A.L., and Rímoli, R. (2017) New cranium of the endemic Caribbean platyrrhine, Antillothrix bernensis, from La Altagracia Province, Dominican Republic. Journal of Human Evolution 106: 133-153. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.02.002
Tallman, M. and Cooke, S.B. (2016) New endemic platyrrhine humerus from Haiti and the evolution of the Greater Antillean platyrrhines. Journal of Human Evolution 91: 144-166. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.10.010
Cooke, S.B., Terhune, C.E. (2015) Form, function, and geometric morphometrics. The Anatomical Record 298: 5-28. DOI: 10.1002/ar.23065

Professor & Director
Matthew J. Ravosa, PhD
Research focus:
- Experimental biology
- Mechanobiology
- Skull & feeding apparatus
- Musculoskeletal systems
E-mail: mravosa1@jhmi.edu
Mitchell, D.R., Wroe, S., Ravosa, M.J. & Menegaz, R.A. (2021) More challenging diets sustain feeding performance: Applications towards captive rearing of wildlife. Integrative Organismal Biology 3:obab030. (cover image)
Kraatz, D., Belabbas, R., Fostowicz-Frelik, Ł., Ge, D.-Y., Kuznetsov, A.N., Lang, M., Lopez-Torres, S., Racicot, R.A., Ravosa, M.J., Sharp, A.C., Sherratt, E., Silcox, M.T., Słowiak, J., Winker, A.J. & Ruf, I. (2021) Lagomorpha as a model organism. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution: Phylogenetics, Phylogenomics, and Systematics 9:ar636402.
Nett, E.M., Jaglowski, B., Ravosa, L.J., Ravosa, D.D. & Ravosa, M.J. (2021) Mechanical properties of food and masticatory behavior in llamas, Llama glama. Journal of Mammalogy 102:1375-1389.

Associate Professor & Graduate Program Director
Adam D. Sylvester, PhD
Research focus:
- Early hominin, human and primate locomotion
- Functional anatomy of the postcranial skeleton
- Statistical analysis of biological shape
- Bone structure and microstructure
E-mail: asylves4@jhmi.edu
Sylvester, A.D. and Terhune, C.E. (2017). Trabecular mapping: Leveraging geometric morphometrics for analyses of trabecular structure. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 163:553-569. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23231
Auerbach, B.M., Gooding, A.F., Shaw, C.N., and Sylvester, A.D. (2017). The relative position of the human fibula to the tibia influences cross‐sectional properties of the tibia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 163:148-157. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23196
Sylvester AD. (2013). A geometric morphometric analysis of the hominid medial tibial condyle. The Anatomical Record 296:1518-1525. DOI: 10.1002/ar.22762
Emeritus Faculty

Professor Emeritus
Ken Rose, PhD
Research focus:
- Early Tertiary mammalian functional anatomy
- Patterns of evolution in mammalian functional anatomy
- Faunal succession and diversity
- The Eocene of Wyoming
E-mail: kdrose@jhmi.edu
Ruf, I., V. Volpato, K.D. Rose, G. Billet, C. de Muizon, and T. Lehmann. (2016) Digital reconstruction of the inner ear of Leptictidium auderiense (Leptictida, Mammalia) reveals new insight into leptictidan locomotion. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 90(1): 153-171. DOI: (View from website)
Dunn, R.H., K.D. Rose, R.S. Rana, K. Kumar, A. Sahni, T. Smith. (2016) New euprimate postcrania from the early Eocene of Gujarat, India, and the strepsirrhine-haplorhine divergence. J. Human Evol. 99: 25-51. DOI: (view from website)

Professor Emeritus
Chris Ruff, PhD
Research focus:
- Biomechanics and primate locomotion
- Evolution of the hominoid postcranium
- Skeletal growth and development
- Skeletal remodeling, behavioral reconstruction
E-mail: cbruff@jhmi.edu
Ruff, C. B., Sylvester, A. D., Rahmawati, N. T., Suriyanto, R., Storm, P., Aubert, M., Joannes-Boyau, R., Berghuis, H., Pop, E., Batenburg, K. J., Coban, S. B., Kostenko, A., Noerwidi, S., Renema, W., Adhityatama, S., & Joordens, J. C. (2022) Two Late Pleistocene human femora from Trinil, Indonesia: Implications for body size and behavior in Southeast Asia. J. Hum. Evol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103252
Ruff, C.B., Junno, J.-A., Burgess, M.L., Canington, S.L., Harper, C., Mudakikwa, A., and McFarlin, S.M. (2022) Body proportions and environmental adaptation in gorillas. Am. J. Biol. Anthropol. 177: 501-529. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24443
Ruff, C.B., Wunderlich, R.E., Hatala, K.G., Tuttle, R.H., Hilton, C.E., D’Août , K., Webb, D.M., Hallgrímsson, B., Musiba, C., and Baksh, M. (2021) Body mass estimation from footprint size in hominins. J. Hum. Evol. 156: 102997. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102997

Professor Emeritus
David Weishampel, PhD
Research focus:
- Dinosaur paleobiology
- Late Cretaceous island biogeography
- Coevolution of vertebrates and plants
- History of paleontology and evolutionary biology
E-mail: dweisham@jhmi.edu
Osi, A., Prondvai, E., Butler, R., and Weishampel, D. B. 2012. Phylogeny, histology and inferred body size evolution in a new rhabdodontid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Hungary. PLoS ONE 7(9): e44318. (view from PLoS ONE page).
Weishampel, D. B. and Jianu, C. M. 2013. Franz Baron Nopcsa: a man out of time. Foreword to Weishampel & Kerscher. Historical Biology 25(4): 391-544. (view from Taylor & Francis).
Weishampel, D. B. and Reif, W. E. 2013. An untimely nexus of German biomechanics, ornithology, and evolutionary biology: Dominik von Kripp and his functional morphology studies. Historical Biology 25(2): 261-281. (view from Taylor and Francis).
Joint & Adjunct Faculty
Adjunct Professor
Valerie B. DeLeon, PhD
Associate Professor at the Department of Anthropology, University of Florida
Research focus:
Functional and evolutionary morphology
Craniofacial growth, cleft lip & palate, sexual dimorphism
Normal and pathophysiology of feeding in infants
Coordination of respiration and swallowing in mammals
Impact of stroke and Parkinson’s disease on oral function
E-mail: vdeleon@jhmi.edu
Professor
Donna Magid, MD
Professor of Diagnostic Radiology in the Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science; Professor of Orthopedic Surgery; secondary appointment in the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Research focus:
Radiology of the pelvis, acetabulum, lower extremity
Skeletal trauma, diabetic foot
Teaching/mentoring medical students and residents
Veterinary radiology
E-mail: dmagid@jhmi.edu
Adjunct Professor
Rebecca Z. German, PhD
Professor, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Northeast Ohio Medical University; secondary appointment as adjunct professor for the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Research focus:
Craniofacial development
Morphological integration
Fluctuating asymmetry as indication of developmental stability
Morphometric methods and software
Brain dysmorphology in autism and related disorders
E-mail: rgerman@neomed.edu