We work at the intersection of epidemiology, ecology, statistics, social behavior and economics to understand and control zoonotic diseases. We have focused our research on the control of urban infectious disease transmission in Peru. Our team in Peru conducts epidemiological studies on Chagas disease and canine rabies as well as socio-ecological research on disease vectors and animal reservoirs. In addition we use quantitative and qualitative methods to elucidate the factors that have led to urbanization of diseases traditionally associated with rural poverty, such as Chagas disease, or the reintroduction of zoonotic disease in urban environments, such as canine rabies.
Our approaches are interdisciplinary, reflecting the composition of our research team. Our work also focuses on understanding how health behavior decisions are made within households, and how socioeconomic and cultural contexts both condition and constrain those decisions. An important social aspect that shapes disease transmission is migration, and currently we examine the role of human movement to the rural-urban interface on the transmission and persistence of urban zoonotic diseases.
We promote the One Health approach and utilize it in our projects as a research framework to unify different aspects of zoonotic diseases and to integrate multiple institutions in charge of the investigation and control of such diseases.
Please look at our projects and publications for specific information about our research in Peru.
Ⓒ 2014 ZDRC
UPENN- Tulane- UPCH Zoonotic Disease Research Lab Center