Chris Pierce holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Washington and worked as an archaeologist from 1975 through 2000. His research focused primarily on the western U.S., ranging in time from Paleo-Indian through the European contact period and covered a variety of topics including method and theory development, ceramic studies, experimental archaeology and geoarchaeology. In 2001, he changed careers to healthcare research and informatics. He worked for the Heart and Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic where he managed the observational research, clinical quality, and informatics teams until his retirement in 2021. Since retirement, he has rekindled his engagement with archaeology.