This panel explores the complex interplay between human mobility, disease, and diet in shaping prehistoric life from South Asia to the remote Pacific. We bring together interdisciplinary research to examine the presence of pathology and trauma in past peoples and its implications for the health and diet of complex communities in this vast tropical region of the Asia-Pacific. A central focus is the burden of infectious diseases like malaria and treponematosis, which acted as potent selective pressures, potentially driving genetic adaptations such as thalassemia. These infectious diseases, often intertwined with micronutrient and iron deficiencies stemming from scarce food resources, could have amplified morbidity and shaped developmental conditions such as rickets in ancient populations. Moving beyond isolated case studies, this panel employs integrated frameworks of osteobiography and paleopathology to connect skeletal evidence of these conditions, from cranial modifications to signs of care, to broader social and biocultural contexts. We invite papers that use bioarchaeological, genetic, and archaeological evidence to illuminate how ancient populations navigated the challenges of a tropical environment, transforming our understanding of adaptation, vulnerability, and community in the Indo-Pacific past.