Mark Teaford, MA, PhD, FAAA, FAAAS

Areas of Expertise

Anatomy,
Biological Anthropology,
Functional Morphology

Biography

I've always been interested in fossils, monkeys, and anatomy. After my graduate training at the U. of Illinois, I joined the newly-formed, Functional Anatomy & Evolution Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where I started as a Postdoc in 1981 and then went up through the ranks to reach Full Professor in 1997. While there, I was fortunate to do fieldwork in Africa and Costa Rica, and museum research in the U.S., Europe, South America, and Africa. I was also Chair of the Maryland State Anatomy Board for ten years, and Director of the Gross Anatomy Course taught to first-year medical students for my last 15 years there. I retired from Johns Hopkins in 2011 and moved to High Point University, where I helped design the anatomy lab for the new School of Health Sciences from 2011 to 2015. I then moved to Touro University’s California campus in 2015. I am a past Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Human Evolution and also a past Vice President of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. Throughout my career, I’ve taught human anatomy and biological anthropology. I’ve also tried to give talks to local schools and libraries whenever possible. My research interests focus on functional morphology, particularly dental microwear analyses and what they can tell us about how teeth are used. As a result, I've tried to bring together data gathered from laboratory primates, museum samples, and primates in the wild to gain insights into the paleobiology of our ancestors. On the side, I enjoy photography and reading and writing haiku, tanka, senryu.

Education

• University of Pennsylvania, BA (Anthropology)
• University of Illinois, MA & PhD (Anthropology)
• Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Postdoctoral Fellow

Honors and Awards

• Hong Kong University – Dr. S.T. Huang-Chan Memorial Lectureship, November, 1998
• Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, W. Barry Wood, Jr. Award, for Outstanding Preclinical Teaching - 2004
• Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Professor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Preclinical Sciences, 2005-2006.
• American Association of Anatomists, Fellow, 2019.
• Henry Gray Distinguished Educator Award, American Association for Anatomy, 2020.
• American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow, 2022.

Recent Publications

Sample of Recent Publications:
Teaford, M.F., Ungar, P.S., Taylor, A.B., Vinyard, C.J., Ross, C.F., Laird, M.F. (2021).Grit your teeth and chew your food: Implications of food material properties and abrasives for rates of dental microwear formation in laboratory Sapajus apella (Primates). Palaeogeog. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 583, 110644.

Thompson, C.L., Williams, S.H., Glander, K.E., Teaford, M.F., Vinyard, C.J. (2020). Getting humans off monkeys’ backs: Using primate acclimation as a guide for habitat management efforts. Integr. Comp. Biol. 60: 413-424.

Teaford, M.F., Ungar, P.S., Taylor, A.B., Ross, C.F., Vinyard, C.J. (2020). The dental microwear of hard-object feeding in laboratory Sapajus apella. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 171: 439-455.

Teaford, M.F. (2020). Staring at the Midnight Sky. Winchester, Virginia: Red Moon Press

Vinyard, C.J., Teaford, M.F., Wall, C.E., Taylor, A.B. (2019). The feeding system in human evolution: comparative functional morphology of the human masticatory apparatus. In: Feeding in Vertebrates: Anatomy, Biomechanics, Evolution. Bels, V. (ed.). Berlin: Springer, pp. 831-865.

Teaford, M.F., Ungar, P.S. Taylor, A.B., Ross, C.F., Vinyard, C.J. (2017). In vivo rates of dental microwear formation in laboratory primates fed different food items. Biosurface and Biotribology 3: 166-173.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bsbt.2017.11.0015.

Peterson, A., Abella, E., Grine, F.E., Teaford, M.F., Ungar, P.S. (2018). Microwear textures of Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus robustus molars in relation to paleoenvironment and diet. J. Hum. Evol. 119: 42-63.

Teaford, M.F. (2018). Functional morphology / teeth. In: International Encyclopedia of Biological Anthropology. W. Trevathan (ed.). New York: Wiley.

Ungar, P.S., Healy, C., Karme, A., Teaford, M., Fortelius, M. (2016). Dental topography and diets of platyrrhine primates. Historical Biology 30: 64-75 DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2016.1255737

Teaford, M.F. and Ungar, P.S. (2015) Dental adaptations of African apes. In: Handbook of Paleoanthropology, 2nd Edition, Henke, W. and Tattersall, I., eds. Berlin, Springer-Verlag, pp. 1465-1494.

Estalrrich, A., Young, M.B., Teaford, M.F., Ungar, P.S. (2015). Environmental perturbations can be detected through microwear texture analysis in two platyrrhine species from Brazilian Amazonia. Am. J. Primatol. 77: 1230-1237.

Thompson, C., Williams, S., Glander, K., Teaford, M., Vinyard, C. (2014). Body temperature and thermal environment in a generalized arboreal anthropoid, the mantled howling monkey (Alouatta palliata). Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 154: 1-10.

Teaford, M.F., Ungar, P.S., and Grine, F.E. (2013). Dental microwear and paleoecology. In: Early Hominin Paleoecology, M. Sponheimer, J.A. Lee-Thorp, K.E. Reed, and P. Ungar, eds. Boulder: University of Colorado Press, pp. 251-279.

Daegling, D.J., Judex, S., Ozcivici, E., Ravosa, M.J., Taylor, A.B., Grine, F.E., Teaford, M.F., Ungar, P.S. (2013). Feeding mechanics, diet and dietary adaptations in early hominins. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 151: 356-371.

Scott, R.S., Teaford, M.F., and Ungar, P.S. (2012). Dental microwear texture and anthropoid diets. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 147: 551-579.

Klukkert, Z.S., Teaford, M.F., and Ungar, P.S. (2012) A dental topographic analysis of chimpanzees. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 148: 276-284.

Grine, F.E., Sponheimer, M., Ungar, P.S., Lee-Thorp, J., and Teaford, M.F. (2012). How dental microwear and stable isotopes inform the paleoecology of extinct hominins. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 148: 285-317.

Darnell, L., Livi, K.J., Teaford, M.F., and Weihs, T.P. (2010). Enamel microstructure and enamel properties in Alouatta palliata. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 141: 7-15.

Memberships and Affiliations

• American Association of Biological Anthropologists
• American Association for Anatomy
• American Association of Clinical Anatomists
• Haiku Society of America
• Tanka Society of America
• Haiku Poets of Northern California
• Research Associate, Department of Anthropology, UC Davis

Teaching Responsibilities

Anatomy in Fundamentals of Osteopathic Medicine, IS-CVRR, IS-MSN, IS-GERD