Martha K. McClintock, University of Chicago

Profile photo of Martha K. McClintock, expert at University of Chicago

Professor Chicago, Illinois mkm1@uchicago.edu Office: (773) 702-2579

Bio/Research

Dr. McClintock was the first researcher to discover menstrual synchronization among human females while still an undergraduate at Wellesley College. McClintock made this now famous discovery when she observed that the menstrual cycles among her dormitory mates became synchronized. After researchi...

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Bio/Research

Dr. McClintock was the first researcher to discover menstrual synchronization among human females while still an undergraduate at Wellesley College. McClintock made this now famous discovery when she observed that the menstrual cycles among her dormitory mates became synchronized. After researching the topic further for her senior thesis, she concluded that the synchronization of the menstrual cycles among female friends and dormitory mates was caused by pheromones transmitted through social interaction. This research was later published in Nature (McClintock 1971).

Dr. McClintock's current research focuses on the interaction between behavior and reproductive endocrinology and immunology. Because behavior and endocrine function are reciprocally linked, Dr. McClintock focuses on the behavioral control of endocrinology, in addition to the hormonal and neuroendocrine mechanisms of behavior. Working with both animal and parallel clinical processes in humans, Dr. McClintock studies pheromones, sexual behavior, fertility and reproductive hormones. McClintock also studies the psychosocial origins of malignant and infectious disease, applying this to the dramatic health disparity in cancer promoting genes between African-American women and women of Northern European ancestry.


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