Ricardo Castillo, PhD DVM MSPH

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Assistant Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
Instructor, Perelman School of Medicine
Department: Biostatistics and Epidemiology

Contact information
423 Guardian Dr. #715
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 2157467333
Education:
BSc (Veterinary Medicine)
Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 2006.
DVM (Veterinary Medicine)
Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 2007.
PhD (Epidemiology)
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2014.
MSPH (International Health)
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2014.
Cert. (Research Mentor Training: Effective Communication and Aligning Expectations)
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 2022.
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Description of Research Expertise

I study the eco-epidemiology of tropical diseases. My current research uses canine rabies as a model system to understand how the social and spatial features of urban areas influence the emergence and persistence of infectious diseases.

My most recent line of research focuses on urban canine rabies. I conduct community-based surveys paired with GPS tracking of free-roaming dogs to understand the drivers of canine rabies outbreaks. My methodological interests include spatial analysis, optimization of interventions to control infectious disease, and design of community-based studies.

I am a scholar of infectious disease epidemiology with a strong background in quantitative methods, zoonotic disease ecology, and the study of complex systems. I am committed to teaching and research in public health, infectious disease, and epidemiological methods. I am well versed in designing and conducting observational and experimental community-based studies, as well as laboratory-based research. I have strong data management and analysis skills; experience with a variety of data sources.

Selected Publications

Chuquista-Alcarraz, Olimpia; Falcón, Néstor; Vigilato, Marco; Rocha, Felipe; Toledo, Gisely; Recuenco, Sergio; Castillo-Neyra, Ricardo: Dog population rabies immunity prior to a mass vaccination campaign in Lima, Peru: vulnerabilities for virus reestablishmen. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene July 2023.

Jennifer L. Rokhsar, Brinkley Raynor, Justin Sheen, Neal D. Goldstein, Michael Z. Levy, Ricardo Castillo-Neyra: Modeling the impact of xenointoxication in dogs to halt Trypanosoma cruzi transmission. PLoS Comput Biol. PLoS, 19(5): e101111, May 2023.

Castillo-Neyra: Association between seroprevalence of measles virus in monkeys and degree of human-monkey contact in Bangladesh. One Health. Elsevier, May 2023.

Emma Taylor, Elsa Gladys Aguilar-Ancori, Ashley C Banyard, Isis Abel, Clara Mantini-Briggs, Charles L Briggs, Carolina Carrillo, Cesar M Gavidia, Ricardo Castillo-Neyra, Alejandro D Parola, Fredy E Villena, Joaquin M Prada, Brett W Petersen, Nestor Falcon Perez, Cesar Cabezas Sanchez, Moises Sihuincha, Daniel G Streicker, Ciro Maguina Vargas, Ana Maria Navarro Vela, Marco A N Vigilato, Hui Wen Fan, Rodney Willoughby, Daniel L Horton, Sergio E Recuenco: The Amazonian Tropical Bites Research Initiative, a hope for resolving zoonotic neglected tropical diseases in the One Health era. International Health. Oxford Academic, 5(2): 216–223, July 2022.

Buttenheim AM, Castillo-Neyra R, Arevalo-Nieto C, Shinnick JE, Sheen JK, Volpp KG, Paz-Soldan V, Behrman JR, Levy MZ: Do Incentives Crowd Out Motivation? A Feasibility Study of a Community Vector-Control Campaign in Peru. Behav Med 49(1), Nov 2021.

Raynor B, Díaz EW, Shinnick J, Zegarra E, Monroy Y, Mena C, De la Puente-León M, Levy MZ, Castillo-Neyra R.: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on rabies reemergence in Latin America: The case of Arequipa, Peru. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 15: e0009414, May 2021.

Larson AJ, Paz-Soldán VA, Arevalo-Nieto C, Brown J, Condori-Pino C, Levy MZ, Castillo-Neyra R.: Misuse, perceived risk, and safety issues of household insecticides: Qualitative findings from focus groups in Arequipa, Peru. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 15: e0009251, May 2021.

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. Trop Med Infect Dis 5: 178, Nov 2020.

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. Am J Trop Med Hyg 104: 700-7, Nov 2020.

Lidani KCF, Sandri TL, Castillo-Neyra R, Andrade FA, Guimarães CM, Marques EN, Beltrame MH, Gilman RH, Messias-Reason I.: Clinical and epidemiological aspects of chronic Chagas disease from Southern Brazil. Rev Soc Bras Med Trop 53: e20200225, Oct 2020.

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Last updated: 09/25/2023
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