Anthro grad student Jewel Curtis digging into the relationship between bone density and drug use

Jewel Curtis is a grad student of forensic anthropology at Western who studies the impact of illicit substance use on bone mineral density and human decomposition.  

Before grad school, Curtis was a real-life crime scene investigator. She worked as an intern in the Skagit County Coroner’s Office surveying scenes, assisting with autopsies and conducting lab analyses on samples. Overdose was the most common cause of death Curtis encountered in Skagit County, and she wanted to know more about mitigating the various risk factors involved in those deaths. 

Grad school at Western gave Curtis the opportunity to build a research project around bone mineral density and its relationship to illicit substance use. Low bone density, or osteoporosis, is a serious condition that can cause bones to become so weak and brittle that even bending over or coughing can cause fractures in the spine or hip when the disease is advanced. 

There are two kinds of osteoporosis: primary, caused by aging, and secondary, caused by lifestyle, including the use of certain medications and illicit substances. For her master’s thesis, Curtis utilized the New Mexico Decedent Image Database, which has 15,000 whole-body CT scans. She compared bone mineral density in two groups of people: users of multiple illicit substances and non-users.  

“Many individuals with substance use disorders in the data showed signs of osteoporosis. The longer you use, the worse it's going to be. And you don't get density back after it's gone. But lifting weights and taking supplements that promote muscle growth help slow down the decline in density,” said Curtis.  

Nevertheless, the biggest takeaway from Curtis’s thesis research is that when controlling for age, sex and use of multiple illicit substances, age is still the biggest predictor of bone mineral loss.   

Curtis is a recent recipient of WWU’s Research and Creative Opportunities Grant through the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, and she used the award to present her findings at the American Association of Biological Anthropology professional meetings in Baltimore.  

But that’s not all Curtis has been up to this year. Alongside her work on bone mineral density, Curtis also recently received the Diana L. Jones Social Justice and Community Grant to attend a forensics workshop on human remains and recovery at Texas State University in San Marcos. While there, she mapped and toured the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility, or what many folks call the “Body Ranch.” At 26 acres, it’s the largest human decomposition research facility in the world and generally has over 50 cadavers in use at any time, which are self-donated via pre-registration or by next-of-kin after an extensive application process documenting medical and social history.  

Alongside working forensic anthropologists and law enforcement personnel, Curtis excavated a mock clandestine burial, buried a new donor and did a surface-level scatter search of human and non-human remains. She was also trained on specialized photography technology to create a 3D model of the burial. The research done at the “Body Ranch” is intended to help identify bodies, find murdered and missing persons and provide clues to help solve real cases. 

“The purpose of [me] going was to get updated information on forensic techniques in the field to help re-do the forensic modules for some of the anthropology classes [at Western],” said Curtis. 

A Lone Star State native, Curtis prepared for her master’s program at WWU by earning a bachelor’s degree in anthropology with a concentration in forensics at Texas Tech University. Then she went to field school in Roncesvalles, Spain and worked in a 16^th century ossuary in the Basque Country, where she applied her skills in osteoarcheology, the study of human skeletal remains. 

“It’s this mass burial where people from the surrounding community were laid to rest together. Debris and dirt were also deposited in the ossuary to cover the bodies, and that created distinct layers that we were able to study and correlate to a specific time period,” Curtis said.  

At WWU, what Curtis said she appreciates most about her master’s program is the hands-on, collaborative nature of it, the small cohort sizes and the excellent mentorship opportunities. Curtis works under Associate Professor of Anthropology Tesla Monson.     

“Our small cohort gets a lot of attention. Our lab is very collaborative, and Tesla gives amazing feedback — she pushes me to do different things and supports me in my decisions. She always makes sure there’s something to do,” Curtis said.  

After graduation, Curtis plans to move to Bellevue with her partner and find a position as a death investigator in King County.  

Click here to learn more about Western’s master’s program in anthropology. 

Allie Spikes covers the Graduate School for University Communications. Reach out to her with story ideas at spikesa@wwu.edu.