Ricardo Castillo-Neyra, PhD, DVM, MSPH

Scholar

  •  Assistant Professor | University of Pennsylvania
  •  Guatemala | Peru
  •   Epidemiology | OneHealth | Public Health | Tropical diseases

Languages: Spanish (native), English (fluent), Portuguese (basic)

Bio statement

Dr. Castillo is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Scientific Director of the Zoonotic Diseases Research Laboratory (ZDRL), a collaborative research consortium between multiple US-based and international institutions that employs over 30 full-time staff. He systematically applies the One Health approach to studying tropical infectious diseases in Latin America. Dr. Castillo has focused his research on the epidemiology of zoonotic diseases in urban areas, the fastest-growing ecosystems in the world. Dr. Castillo is the PI of two NIH-funded projects focused on the socio-spatial dynamics of urban zoonotic diseases and the optimization of mass vaccination campaigns to control epidemics. He is also the Co-PI of a Mellon Foundation project where he studies the intersection of social inequalities, access to health services, and the emergence of infectious diseases.

Recent global health projects

Mathematically optimized vaccination campaigns to control zoonotic outbreaks.


The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the epidemiology of canine rabies in Latin America.


Selected publications

Raynor B, Díaz EW, Shinnick J, Zegarra E, Monroy Y, et al. (2021) The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on rabies reemergence in Latin America: The case of Arequipa, Peru. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 15(5): e0009414. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009414

Ascuña-Durand K, Salazar-Sánchez RS, Castillo-Neyra R, Ballón-Echegaray J. Relative Frequency of Blastocystis Subtypes 1, 2, and 3 in Urban and Periurban Human Populations of Arequipa, Peru. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease. 2020; 5(4):178. https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed5040178

Salazar-Sánchez RS, Ascuña-Durand K, Ballón-Echegaray J, Vásquez-Huerta V, Martínez-Barrios E, Castillo-Neyra R. Socio-Demographic Determinants Associated with Blastocystis Infection in Arequipa, Peru [published online ahead of print, 2020 Nov 16]. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2020;104(2):700-707. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.20-0631

Castillo-Neyra R, Buttenheim AM, Brown J, Ferrara JF, Arevalo-Nieto C, et al. (2020) Behavioral and structural barriers to accessing human post-exposure prophylaxis and other preventive practices in Arequipa, Peru, during a canine rabies epidemic. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 14(7): e0008478. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008478

 

Last Updated: 22 May 2023