María de Lourdes Muñoz-Moreno was born in Mexico City, Mexico. She is a Research Professor in the Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology at the Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados (CINVESTAV-IPN). Muñoz-Moreno was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Pathology and Visiting Fellow for "Advanced Research Experience" at the National Institute of Health in Maryland. Later, she was Visiting Professor in the Department of Genetics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Muñoz-Moreno did a sabbatical year at the Laboratory of Biological Anthropology at the University of Kansas from 2015 to 2016 to start a collaborative research project with Dr. Michael H. Crawford. The main focus of this research was on the population genetics of pre-Hispanic and contemporary Mexicans. Michael H. Crawford was born in Shanghai, China, but he lived in displaced persons camps in the Philippine Islands (Tubabao) and Australia (Urunquinty). He earned his PhD in anthropology and genetics in 1967 from the University of Washington, Seattle. Crawford was Professor of Anthropology and Genetics at the University of Kansas for 50 years prior to retirement in 2020. In 1976, he established the Laboratory of Biological Anthropology. Over the years, he has mentored 41 PhDs and 20 post-doctoral fellows. Crawford has conducted field investigations in Mexico, the Caribbean, Siberia, the Aleutian Islands, Italy, and India. He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles in national and international journals.