Courtney D. Eleazer, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Anatomy Biomedical Sciences
(304) 647-6281 (304) 793-6884 - fax Lab: B307
Ph.D., University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee M.A., University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee B.S., Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
My research focuses on the role of environmental factors (e.g. biomechanics, metabolism, climate) in shaping human functional anatomy and skeletal morphology during growth. Such research improves our understanding of human variation and adaptation, as well as contributes to biomedical efforts in disease prevention and health.
Currently, I am evaluating cross-sectional properties in children's long bones from past human populations with varying subsistence strategies and activity patterns. This project will enhance our understanding of the cultural transmission of behavior in human populations—how the activities of children differ from that of adults cross-culturally and when typical adult behavioral activity and bone mass are attained. In addition, comparisons among populations with diverse nutritional quality and health will illuminate the influence of metabolic stress on the development of bone mass and shape.
I also have ongoing educational research projects involving survey data from WVSOM students. The first investigates the impact of medical education on social interactions with fellow classmates and individuals outside of medical school. The second evaluates the efficacy of a newly-implemented, comprehensive board review program.
Eleazer CD, Scopa Kelso R. 2018. Influence of study approaches and course design on academic success in the undergraduate anatomy laboratory. Anat Sci Educ. 11:496-509.
Eleazer CD, Jankauskas R. 2016. Mechanical and metabolic interactions in cortical bone development. Amer J Phys Anthropol. 160(2):317-333.
Cowgill LW, Eleazer CD, Auerbach BM, Temple D, Okazaki K. 2012. Developmental variation in ecogeographic body proportions. Amer J Phys Anthropol 148(4):557-570.
Eleazer CD, Scopa Kelso R, West F, Williams L, Stradleigh R, Shaeffer A. 2016. Getting the shaft?: Investigating midshaft location in immature femora. The 129th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Anatomists, San Diego, California, April 2-6.
Eleazer CD, Scopa Kelso R, West F. 2016. Getting the shaft?: Investigating midshaft location in immature femora. The 85th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Atlanta, Georgia, April 12-16.
Page KE, Dupras TL, Jankauskas R, Williams LJ, Eleazer CD. 2016. Deviance in youth: Anomalous nitrogen and carbon isotopic values among individual subadults at Medieval Alytus, Lithuania. The 85th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Atlanta, Georgia, April 12-16.
Page KE, Dupras TA, jankauskas R, Williams LJ, Eleazer CD, Schultz, Wheeler SM. 2015. Change between femoral to humeral stable isotopic nitrogen and carbon values during growth from a sample of subadults at Alytus, Lithuania. The 84th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, St. Louis, Missouri, March 25-28.
Eleazer CD. 2015. "The interaction of mechanics and metabolism on human cortical bone." The 84th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, St. Louis, Missouri, March 25-28.
Scopa Kelso R, Eleazer CD. 2014. "You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink: guiding undergraduate human anatomy students in effective study techniques." The 127th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Anatomists, San Diego, California, April 26-30.
Page KE, Dupras TL, Jankauskas R, Williams LJ, Eleazer CD, Schultz JJ, Wheeler, SM. 2014. "Growing up in Medieval Alytus, Lithuania: dietary reconstruction and biocultural analysis." The 83rd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Calgary, Alberta, April 7-12.
Eleazer CD. 2013. "Mechanical and metabolic influences on human cortical bone morphology." The 82nd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Knoxville, Tennessee, April 9-13.
Eleazer CD. 2013. "Human cortical bone maintenance: does mechanical loading compensate for bone loss associated with metabolic stress?" The 126nd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Anatomists, Boston, Massachusetts, April 20-24.
Eleazer CD, Cowgill LW, Auerbach BM. "Ecogeographical variation in subadult anthropometrics." The 79th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Albuquerque, New Mexico, April 14-17.
Eleazer CD, Cowgill LW, Auerbach BM. "North American subadult body proportions: climatic adaptation or population history?" The 80th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 13-16.
Dautartas AM, Algee-Hewitt BF, Driscoll K, Eleazer CD, Godde K, Hulsey BI, Kramer A. 2013. "Identifying hominin hybridity in light of taxonomy: testing a Papio model using craniometrics." The 82nd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Knoxville, Tennessee, April 9-13.