As a scientist, Dr. Elizabeth Rega has published numerous scientific and popular articles on teaching and on the anatomy and pathology of ancient humans, dinosaurs and other fossil and subfossil animals. She has conducted fieldwork on three different continents. Her specialization in teaching morphology to medical students has led her to be a frequent consultant to the film, animation and game industry, including Walt Disney Feature Animation, Dreamworks Animation, SONY Pictures Imageworks and EA Sports. She provides an anatomical and anthropological perspective to inform the development and animation of characters, as well as to highlight the history of racial depictions in film, animation, and entertainment. She has made numerous television and video appearances and collaborated on a lengthy list of films and games, including Lion King, Pocahontas, Tarzan, Mulan, Hollowman, Beowulf, Brother Bear, Tangled, Madden 2016 and others films currently in production. Her most recent work is on Disney’s Strange World, where she is featured in the “making of” content. Dr. Rega was consulting anatomist for Imagineering on the design and rigging of the President Obama audio-animatronic figure for the Walt Disney World Hall of Presidents. Her recent work with the video game industry has concentrated on realistic depictions of eye movement and facial expression. Dr. Elizabeth Rega has lived in Southern California since 1995, but originally hails from Detroit, Michigan, the motor city, partly explaining why the odometer of her 2006 BMW 325ci has 343,000 miles on it. She supports losing Detroit sports teams and enjoys a good beer. Dr. Rega received her BA in Biology and German from Valparaiso University, attended the University of Tubingen in Germany and earned her masters and Ph.D. in Physical Anthropology from the University of Chicago. She trained dozens of students as a teaching fellow in Paleopathology, Archeaology and Prehistory at Sheffield University in the UK from 1990-1995. She is currently a tenured Professor of Anatomy and Associate Provost at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif., where she teaches gross anatomy and musculo-skeletal biology to medical, dental, physician assistant and other graduate health professions students. She is also currently a Visiting Professor of Biology at the Keck Science Center of the Claremont Colleges, where she teaches comparative vertebrate and human anatomy to undergraduates.
Elizabeth Rega
Professor of Anatomy, College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP)
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