The Trailblazing Work of Professor Lynette Sievert

When I sat down to speak with Professor Lynette Sievert, a renowned biological anthropologist at UMass Amherst who has spent decades studying women’s health and menopause, I didn’t expect to leave the conversation feeling both deeply inspired and alarmed. But as she walked me through the history—and gaps—of research in this field, one thing became clear: progress is recent, fragile, and still unfolding.

Professor Sievert’s path into anthropology began through nursing. Working with patients in Albuquerque, she realized that many weren't receiving the care they needed—not due to a lack of medical expertise, but because providers didn’t understand the cultural contexts of their patients’ lives. This realization led her to study anthropology, and ultimately shaped her entire career. "When I was taking the classes in anthropology, I took a class in biological anthropology, and I thought, wow, this is just fantastic. That's how I discovered it. Then I slowly changed from nursing to anthropology, and now I'm an anthropologist," she told me.

Biological anthropology, she explained, is especially dynamic because it sits at the intersection of biology, culture, and medicine. Professor Sievert emphasized that students trained in this field can enter careers in medicine, public health, and museum work. Many of her own students, for example, learned how to interview research participants, collect body measurements, and use hot flash monitors—tools that not only helped in her menopause research, but also opened doors for students to pursue medical school and graduate programs.

I was particularly struck by how young the field of women’s health research really is. It wasn’t until 1993 that women were even required to be included in clinical studies funded by the U.S. government. "You can see in human biology that there was a shift at that time," Professor Sievert explained. "There's just more awareness of women's health in the 1990s. It was the 1990s where human biologists also started to shift more to the study of women and nutrition rather than just looking at women in reproduction."

She shared how early anthropologists viewed menopause through a narrow, often sexist lens, focusing only on women’s supposed loss of sexual usefulness. Using the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF), she traced how these perspectives have evolved. "There have been changes in the nuance of our interests. I think that we're better than we used to be. I think our questions are more interesting than they used to be," she said.

Professor Sievert also recommended several key texts, including Period by Kate Clancy and Ancient Bodies, Modern Lives by Wenda Trevathan, encouraging me to stay curious and connected. When I asked how I could get involved as a high school student, she suggested looking for research opportunities at nearby universities like Brandeis or UMass, and attending the Human Biology Association’s annual conference, where students are welcomed—and often inspired.

But Professor Sievert also expressed deep concern about the future of the field. In today’s political climate, she explained, research grants related to women’s health and gender are increasingly being flagged or rejected by funding agencies. “That’s been really frustrating and something that biological anthropologists are trying to address,” she said. She noted that certain terms are now viewed as politically charged and can jeopardize a proposal’s success. “Words like female is one of the targeted words. Women is one of the targeted words. Gender is a targeted word. I worry about what work we can do in the future as long as this administration has this power.”

As a young woman passionate about science communication and equity, I walked away feeling more determined than ever. Women’s health deserves deeper, broader, and more inclusive research. Thanks to mentors like Professor Sievert, I feel ready to help carry that work forward.