BA/BSc (Honours); PhD Dr Melandri Vlok is a lecturer in anatomy any and physiology. She graduated from her PhD in biological anthropology at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand in 2020. She specialises in Bioarchaeology and Palaeopathology in the Asia-Pacific region and has over a decade of fieldwork experience in archaeology in the region. Melandri is a National Geographic Explorer, having received a grant in 2018 for research in Vietnam. She works on projects in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Japan. Professional Memberships: Dr Vlok has a decade of experience teaching tertiary level anatomy and physiology, public health, archaeology, and biological anthropology content. Her teaching focus at Charles Sturt spans surface anatomy, regional anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology. Dr Vlok’s current research focuses on tracing the antiquity of tropical diseases including malaria, yaws and leprosy in tropical Asia-Pacific, and their disease dynamics alongside natural climate change in the past. This research encompasses the use traditional macroscopic and radiographic techniques of diagnosis from ancient skeletons, as well as biomolecular identification of pathogens via genomics, proteomics, and lipidomics. Dr Vlok is actively looking for students for graduate projects in biochemistry of ancient bone, ancient and modern musculoskeletal health, ancient oral health, and ancient disease epidemiology.
Physiology4471803
Dr Melandri Vlok
She has identified the earliest evidence of surgical amputation in the world at 31kya, treponemal disease (yaws, syphilis) and malaria in the Asia-Pacific region.