Prof. Dr. Cristina Padez is an Associate Professor at the Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Portugal, and a  Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at Portugal and Coordinator of the  Research Centre for Anthropology and Health, University of Coimbra. She completed her PhD studies in Biological Anthropology at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. She is also the Coordinator of the Research Centre for Anthropology and Health (CIAS) at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. Her areas of interest include childhood obesity, social inequalities, gender,  sedentary behaviors, human adaptation, human growth, age at menarche,  and secular trends in height.