Alex Alvergne
I'm interested in women's health through the prism of ecology and evolutionary biology. This approach seeks to understand variations in physiological and behavioral traits, both at the individual level and between different populations. In evolutionary ecology, physiological and behavioral responses to ecological constraints are seen as the fruit of an evolutionary process, possibly adaptive. Applied to health, evolutionary ecology offers an innovative perspective for (re)thinking the criteria used to distinguish what is considered 'normal' from what is deemed 'pathological', taking into account the ecological context in its broadest sense: environmental, social and cultural.
For more info on papers, my Google Scholar page
In recent years I have been working on (1) the impact of vaccination and infection on menstrual cycles, (2) the ecological and physiological determinants of contraceptive side effects and (3) the role of cultural transmission in the evolution of reproductive norms.
I'm currently leading a project on the developmental origins of endometriosis (EnDOHAD), in collaboration with Montpellier University Hospital (Noémie Ranisavljevic) and Simon Fraser University (Bernard Crespi), funded by the Endometriosis Research Foundation.
I'm also starting a project on the impact of the environment on menstrual cycles in Occitanie (ANR C-HEALTH project).
Environment more crucial than genes in risk of early death, study suggests
Low haemoglobin in arduous seasons is associated with reduced chance of ovulation among women living in the Bolivian altiplano
First episode of the "My Endo on Waves" series - S01E01: Developmental Origins of Endometriosis (EnDOHAD) with Dr Alexandra Alvergne (CNRS)
Socio-Ecology of Menstrual Cycles
9.9 M to support Montpellier researchers shaping the health of the future / Alexandra Alvergne works on the risks of endometriosis
Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale Awards Ceremony | Alexandra Alvergne
Developmental Origin of Endometriosis
A retrospective case-control study on menstrual cycle changes following COVID-19 vaccination and disease
Menstrual cycle and COVID-19
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- Rose Stevens, Blandine Malbos, Eshetu Gurmu, Jérémie Riou, Alexandra Alvergne. Anaemic women are more at risk of injectable contraceptive discontinuation due to side-effects in Ethiopia. Studies in Family Planning, 2021, ⟨10.1101/2020.10.28.20221523⟩. ⟨hal-03356961v2⟩
- Sarai Keestra, Vedrana Högqvist Tabor, Alexandra Alvergne. Reinterpreting Patterns of Variation in Human Thyroid Function: An Evolutionary Perspective. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, 2021, ⟨10.1093/emph/eoaa043/5970476⟩. ⟨hal-03092084⟩
- Alexandra Alvergne, Gabriella Kountourides, Austin Argentieri, Lisa Agyen, Natalie Rogers, et al.. COVID-19 vaccination and menstrual cycle changes: A United Kingdom (UK) retrospective case-control study. 2021. ⟨hal-03446967⟩
- Gemma C Sharp, Abigail Fraser, Gemma Sawyer, Gabriella Kountourides, Kayleigh Easey, et al.. The COVID-19 pandemic and the menstrual cycle: research gaps and opportunities. International Journal of Epidemiology, In press, ⟨10.31219/osf.io/fxygt⟩. ⟨hal-03447218⟩
- Abigail Fraser, Cathy Johnman, Elise Whitley, Alexandra Alvergne. The evolutionary ecology of age at natural menopause: implications for public health. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2020, 2, ⟨10.1017/ehs.2020.59⟩. ⟨hal-03092086⟩
- Frédéric Thomas, Mathieu Giraudeau, François Renaud, Beata Ujvari, Benjamin Roche, et al.. Can postfertile life stages evolve as an anticancer mechanism?. PLoS Biology, 2019, 17 (12), pp.e3000565. ⟨10.1371/journal.pbio.3000565⟩. ⟨hal-02445900⟩
- Jeremy Koster, Dieter Lukas, David Nolin, Eleanor Power, Alexandra Alvergne, et al.. Kinship ties across the lifespan in human communities. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2019, 374 (1780), pp.20180069. ⟨10.1098/rstb.2018.0069⟩. ⟨hal-03092099⟩
- Marina Voinson, Alexandra Alvergne, Sylvain Billiard, Charline Smadi. Stochastic dynamics of an epidemic with recurrent spillovers from an endemic reservoir. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2018, 457, pp.37 - 50. ⟨10.1016/j.jtbi.2018.08.017⟩. ⟨hal-01882987⟩
- Sylvain Billiard, Alexandra Alvergne. Stochasticity in cultural evolution: a revolution yet to happen. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 2018, 40 (1), ⟨10.1007/s40656-017-0173-y⟩. ⟨hal-01712243⟩
- Alexandra Alvergne, Jenkinson Crispin, Charlotte Faurie. Evolutionary thinking in medicine: from research to policy and practice. Springer, 2016, Advances in the Evolutionary Analysis of Human Behaviour. ⟨hal-04028875⟩
Documents retrieved from the HAL open archive 
