Fatimah Jackson

Fatimah Linda Collier Jackson is an American biologist and anthropologist. She is a professor of biology at Howard University and Director of its Cobb Research Laboratory.

Early life, family and education Jackson was born and raised in Denver, Colorado.

After high school, she attended the University of Colorado. She trained in human biology.

Career In the 1970s, Jackson taught science education in Tanzania. She would use cultural examples to explain scientific information, in order to make it relatable to people. In 1981 she became assistant professor at University of California, Berkeley in its Department of Anthropology before moving to the University of Florida in 1986 as associate professor. She became professor emerita of applied biological anthropology at the University of Maryland after teaching there for 20 years (1990–2011), which was recognised by a Distinguished Scholar Teacher Award in 1995. In 2009 Jackson held a professorship and director role in biological anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). She became a professor of biology and director of the W. Montague Cobb Research Laboratory at Howard University in 2013. Jackson served as director of UNC's Institute of African American Research from 2009 to 2011. She serves now as the director/curator of the W. Montague Cobb Research Lab. Her research on peoples of recent African-descent also led to appearances on the PBS programs African American Lives, Nova and the BBC's Motherland.

Research Jackson specializes in the study of human-plant coevolution and anthropological genetics, especially African human genetics and population biological substructures in peoples of African descent. For example, genetic changes in human evolution due to cultural migrations.

A significant portion of her research is dedicated to examining the properties of cassava, a starchy root similar to a potato. Jackson's studies reveal that individuals in Liberia, West Africa, who consume considerable quantities of cassava exhibit immunity against certain illnesses. Notably, they display reduced rates of sickle cell anemia and a decreased susceptibility to malaria compared to those with lower cassava consumption.

Jackson is the Director and Curator of the Cobb Research Laboratory at Howard University where she conducts studies on African-American biological history with access to the largest collection of African-American skeletal and dental remains in the world.

Honors and awards She won the Nick Norgan Award in 2009 for the Best Article Published in Annals of Human Biology. That same year, she received the Outstanding Service Award from the Department of Biology at Howard University.

In 2020, Jackson was awarded the Charles R. Darwin Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. She is the first African-American woman to receive this award.

She has also been a Fulbright Senior Fellow.

Personal life Jackson is an observant Muslim; she converted when she was in graduate school at Cornell University.

At age 19, she married Robert Jackson, now a professor of nutrition. They met after Fatimah transferred colleges to Cornell University. They have six children.