Prof. Hila May, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Tel Aviv University, where she directs the Biohistory and Evolutionary Medicine Laboratory. She is also the head of the Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research and serves as Chair of the Department of Anatomy and Biological Anthropology. 

Prof. May earned her BSc, MSc, and PhD at Tel Aviv University and completed postdoctoral training at the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland.  

Prof. Hila May’s lab focuses on human evolution, biohistory and evolutionary medicine, using skeletal remains, imaging, and geometric morphometrics to study how evolutionary trade-offs in human anatomy shape modern health and disease. Core offerings include (1) virtual and quantitative palaeontology methods such as landmark-based geometric morphometric analyses of the spine and other skeletal elements; (2) development and validation of novel diagnostic and estimation tools (e.g., new methods for sex estimation from femoral cross-sectional geometry and quantitative characterization of lumbar curvature across growth); and (3) integration of ancient DNA and osteological data to reconstruct past populations’ lifeways and population mixtures. This work informs clinical understanding of spinal development and maldevelopment, improves measurement of spinal curves beyond traditional angular methods, and provides anthropologically grounded reference data that can refine risk assessment and management of spine-related pathologies and other musculoskeletal conditions.

Contact:
Email: mayhila@tauex.tau.ac.il
Phone: 03-6407346
Website: https://hilamaylab.wixsite.com/bem-lab