Before he came to UCSC he worked for Yale University, the Ruhr-University Bochum, and the Georg-August University Goettingen where he also received his PhD in Biology in 2008. He also received two MA degrees from the same institution in Archaeology, and Biology. Dr. Fehren-Schmitz’s research uses ancient and modern DNA in research frameworks informed by archaeological and paleoecological sources to explore how the twin forces of culture and biology shaped human genomic diversity, demography and health. A Paleogenomic Perspective on the Population History of the Central Andes and the peopling of South America