Dr. Raisa Hernandez-Pacheco, May 2025 Snapshot

Published May 12, 2025

Dr. Raisa Hernández Pacheco is an associate professor in the Biological Sciences Department and leads the Quantitative Ecology Lab. She and her student researchers seek to understand whether the effects of social factors on individual fates ultimately translate into population-level processes using data of rhesus macaques.

The social environment is thought to play a major role in the fate of social mammals, including humans. For example, socially advantaged macaques often have more access to resources resulting in better health, more offspring, and longer lives, relative to socially disadvantaged macaques.

student researchers observing macaques in the wild
ÓéÀֳǹÙÍø graduate student teams up with University of Michigan graduate student to conduct cognitive tests on Cayo Santiago rhesus macaques.
student researcher observing monkeys in the wild
Postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Nalina Aiempichitkijkarn, identifies individual monkeys at Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico.
Ali and Dr. Hernandez Pacheco
Dr. Hernández Pacheco discusses data analysis with research assistant Ali Bland.
Dr. Aiempichitkijkarn
Dr. Nalina Aiempichitkijkarn developed a photogrammetry method to non-invasively measure body size in free ranging rhesus macaques using digital images.
Sofia and Dr. Hernandez Pacheco
Dr. Hernández Pacheco discusses digital image analysis with research assistant Sofia Vasquez.

Student researchers in the Quantitative Ecology Lab focus on developing a quantitative approach within a biodemographic perspective to address socially driven traits and their evolutionary consequences within the macaque population. Their comparative approach to behavioral research advances our understanding of the link between individual sociality, population-level outcomes, and the evolution of aging across all types of primates- including humans.

Learn more about Dr. Raisa Hernández Pacheco and her work.

Raisa Hernandez Pacheco and her student researchers
The team of researchers at the Quantitative Ecology lab; from left to right: Dr. Nalina Aiempichitkijkarn, Dr. Raisa Hernández Pacheco, Ali Bland, Sofia Vasquez.