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Dr. Paula Skye Tallman

Assistant Professor & Carolyn Farrell, BVM, Endowed Professor in Women and Leadership, Gannon Center for Women and Leadership

Dr. Paula Skye Tallman is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Loyola University of Chicago. She received her Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology from Northwestern University in 2015 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship focused on Indigenous well-being and conservation at the Field Museum of Natural History in 2016. She joined the Department of Anthropology at Loyola University Chicago in 2021 after taking time to be a stay-at-home mom. 

Currently, Dr. Tallman’s research integrates perspectives and methods from anthropology and global health to examine how environmental factors are linked to human health in South America and Southeast Asia. Her most recent action-oriented research examines the relationship between water insecurity and women’s health in Peru and Indonesia.

In total, Dr. Tallman has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles and received over $1 million in funding from organizations such as the National Science Foundation, the Schmitt Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation and the British Academy. She also holds the Carolyn Farrell, BVM, Endowed Professorship in Women and Leadership at the Gannon Center for Women and Leadership, supporting her work running two leadership coaching programs for graduate students at Loyola. 

Research Interests

Dr. Tallman's most recent research project unites her with a team of investigators in anthropology, public health, and humanitarianism to examine the relationship between water insecurity and gender-based violence in Indonesia and Peru. Funded by the British Academy’s "Knowledge Frontiers: International Interdisciplinary Research Program", their team used mixed methods to examine whether women are at risk for violence as they struggle to obtain water to meet household obligations. Dr. Tallman's team found a significant association between household water insecurity and a higher risk of gender-based violence in Indonesia (Cole et al., 2024) and between water insecurity and a range of threats to women's health in Peru (Tallman et al., 2024). They are currently working with partners in Peru and Indonesia to continue action-based research which promotes gender equality and environmental conservation. 

Courses Taught

  • ANTH 103: Biological Background for Human Social Behavior (Biocultural Anthropology)
  • ANTH 106: Sex, Science, and Anthropological Inquiry
  • ANTH 258: Global Health and Medical Anthropology
  • ANTH 353: Epidemics and Pandemics

Publications/Research Listings

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

In Press - Abha Rai, Mary Lehman Held, Ali Tarokh, Maria Vidal de Haymes, Shakila Fro, Farzana Farzam, Elisa Levya Cea, Alix Sanchez Gomes, Madison Juarez, George Thiruvathukal, Paula Tallman. Development of a culturally responsive intervention for stronger communities. Families in Society. In Press.

2025 - Lucas Hertzog, Marshall Makate, David Chipanta, Boladé Banougnin, Martina Mchenga, Gavin Pereira, Sylvester Nyadanu, Jennifer Dunne, Paula S. Tallman, Shalean Collins, Kefyalew Alene, Pauline Rousseau-Gueutin, Astghik Mavisakalyan, Ivan Hanigan. Extreme drought and sexual violence against adolescent girls: a multi-country population-based study. PLOS Global Public Health. 2025 Jun 26;5(6):e0004752. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0004752. eCollection 2025.

2025 - Cassie C. Lee*, Aaron A. Miller, Paula S. Tallman, Shalean M. Collins, Theresa E. Gildner, Tara J. Cepon-Robins, Nanette R. Lee, Thomas W. McDade. Helicobacter pylori in the Philippines: Social and ecological determinants of seropositivity and lack of association with systemic inflammation. American Journal of Human Biology. 2025 May 22;37(5):e70069. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.70069 

2024 - Poland-McClain* W, Rai A, Archdeacon* N, Shallal** G, Salmon-Mulanovich G., Tallman PS. Scoping Review of Cultural Responsivity in Interventions to Prevent Gender-Based Violence in Latin America. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse. 15248380241306016.

2024 - Tallman PS, Seligman R, Madimenos F, Liebert M, Cepon T, Sugiyama L, Snodgrass J, McDade T. Somatic symptoms and biological functioning among Shuar of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Invited submission for special issue of the American Journal of Human Biology. American Journal of Human Biology. 2024 Nov 29;37(1):e24191. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.24191

2024 - Tallman PS, Piland N, *Villarmarzo M, Lacy L, Valdés-Velásquez A. Waterscapes meet socio-ecological models: A framework to examine water insecurity and the health of Indigenous peoples and local communities in the Amazon basin. People and Nature.

2024 - Tallman PS, Salmon-Mulanovich G, Rusyidi B, Cole S. “How Water Insecurity Impacts Women’s Health”. Sapiens (October 2024). https://www.sapiens.org/culture/water-insecurity-gender-based-violence/

2024 - Tallman PS, Miller A, *Brandley S, *Lee C, Gildner T, Robins T, **Collins S. “Helicobacter pylori exposure among the Awajún of the Peruvian Amazon: Prevalence and environmental, social, and biological associations.” American Journal of Biological Anthropology.

2024 - Tallman PS, *Kothadia A, *Archdeacon N*, **Collins S, Salmon-Mulanovich G, López L, Castañeda K, Rusyidi B, Cole S. “Gender-Based Water Violence: Cross-Cultural Evidence for Severe Harm Associated with Water Insecurity for Women and Girls.” Violence Against Women. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012241230323

2024 - Cole S, Tallman PS, Salmon-Mulanovich G, Rusyidi B. “Water Insecurity is associated with Gender-Based Violence: A Mixed-Methods Study in Indonesia.” Social Science and Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116507

2023 - *Archdeacon N, Salmon-Mulanovich G, *Kothadia A, López L, Castañeda K, Rusyidi B, Cole S, Tallman PS. “Teenage Pregnancy in Tambogrande, Peru: Causes, Consequences, and Cycles of Violence and Disadvantage.” Culture, Health, and Sexuality. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2023.2193250

2023 - Tallman PS, **Collins S, Salmon-Mulanovich G, Rusyidi B, *Kothadia A, Cole S. “Water Insecurity and Gender-Based Violence: A Global Review of the Evidence.” WIREs Water. DOI: 10.1002./wat2.1619.

2022 - Tallman PS, Pace C, Southgate T, **Riley-Powell A, Valdés-Velásquez A, Salmón-Mulanovich G, Hartinger SM, Paz-Soldán VA. “Ecosyndemics: The Potential Synergistic Health Impacts of Highways and Dams in the Amazon.” Social Science and Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113037

2022 - Tallman PS, **Collins S, Salmon-Mulanovich G, Chaparro M. “Water Insecurity, Self-Reported Physical Health, and Objective Measures of Biological Health in the Peruvian Amazon.” American Journal of Human Biology. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23805

2022 - Silva M, Tallman PS, Stolow J, Yavinsky R, Fleckman J, Hoffman K. “Learning from the past: the role of social and behavior change in public health emergencies.” Global Health: Science and Practice. 10 (4). DOI: 10.9745/GHSP-D-22-00026

2021 - Tallman PS, Sanchez-Samaniego G, Valdés-Velásquez A. “The ‘Double Burden of Malnutrition’ in the Amazon: Drastic Changes in Diets, Obesity, and Anemia Over 40 Years in Awajún Communities in Peru.” Ecology of Food and Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2021.1916925

2021 - Sanchez-Samaniego G, Tallman PS, Valdés-Velásquez A. “Metabolic Syndrome Risk Unexpectedly Predicted by Traditional Food Consumption among the Awajún of the Peruvian Amazon.” Annals of Human Biology. https://doi.org/10.1080/03014460.2021.1908424

2020 - Tallman PS. Review of “Climate Change and Social Inequality: The Health and Social Costs of Global Warming” by Merrill Singer. American Journal of Human Biology.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23428

2019 - Tallman PS, Valdés-Velásquez A, Salmón-Mulanovich G, Lee G, Riley-Powell A, Villafuerte LB, Hartinger SM, Paz-Soldán VA. “A ‘cookbook’ for vulnerability research.” Frontiers in Public Health. 7 (352): 1-7

2019 - Tallman PS. “Water insecurity and mental health in the Amazon: Economic and ecological drivers of distress.” Economic Anthropology. 6 (2): 304-316

2018 - Tallman PS. “‘Now we live for the money’: Shifting markers of status, stress, and immune function in the Peruvian Amazon.” Ethos. 46 (1): 134-157 

2017 - Wali A, Alvira D, Tallman PS, Ravikumar R, Macedo M. “Together we can thrive: Linking well-being and conservation in the Amazon region of Peru.” Ecology and Society. 22 (4): 6

2016 - Tallman PS. “The Index of Vulnerability: An anthropological method linking social-ecological systems to mental and physical health outcomes.” Social Science and Medicine. 162: 68-78.