Clancy is a biological anthropologist who critically engages with questions around the influence of environmental stressors on the life history and reproductive physiology of people with uteruses. Her lab’s focus has been twofold: they identify relevant immunological and psychosocial stressors, and discover key relationships between these stressors and the menstrual cycle. Her lab seeks to disrupt normative notions of what types of environmental stressors are most likely to influence the menstrual cycle, as well as normative notions of menstrual cycles themselves.
More recently Clancy has shifted to interdisciplinary work in feminist science and feminist science & technology studies, as shown in her first book Period: The Real Story of Menstruation that was released in 2023 (Princeton University Press). Her next book mythbusts the science of miscarriage, stillbirth, and abortion, and will be out in 2026 (Princeton University Press).
Clancy was named to the Nature 10 in 2013 and has won several awards for her publicly engaged research. She has testified in front of Congress, consulted on two House bills, and served on multiple expert consensus committees as well as the NASEM Action Collaborative to Address Sexual Harassment.