Center for
Global Health

Scholar

Languages: English (native), Spanish (fluent)

Bio statement

I study the interface of insects, pathogens & people. I founded the UPenn/UPCH Zoonotic Disease Laboratory in Arequipa, Peru in 2004 and have led a number of studies on Chagas disease in that city. Recently I've begun studying bugs closer to home — bed bugs.

Recent global health projects

• Disrupting Vector-borne Disease transmission in Complex Urban Environments
• Improving Participation in Door-to-door vector control campaigns

Selected publications

R Curtis-Robles, SA Hamer, S Lane, MZ Levy, GL Hamer (2017). Bionomics and Spatial Distribution of Triatomine Vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi in Texas and Other Southern States, USA. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 6 Nov 2017. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.17-0526. 

SK Nutman, A Gutfraind, E Billig, R Castillo-Neyra, MZ Levy (2017). A Bandit Model to Optimize Entomological Surveys. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 95 (5), 53-54.

R Castillo-Neyra, E Zegarra, Y Monroy, RF Bernedo, I Cornejo-Rosello, V Paz-Soldan, MZ Levy (2017). Spatial Association of Canine Rabies Outbreak and Ecological Urban Corridors, Arequipa, Peru. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease 2 (3), 38. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed2030038.

MT Rieders, P Emedom-Nnamdi, MZ Levy (2017). Queueing Analysis of a Chagas Disease Control Campaign. eprint arXiv:1706.08668. 27 Jun 2017.

CM Barbu, K Sethuraman, EMW Billig, MZ Levy (2017). Two‐scale dispersal estimation for biological invasions via synthetic likelihood. Ecography, 21 Aug 2017.  doi: 10.1111/ecog.02575.

VA Paz-Soldán, KM Bauer, GC Hunter, R Castillo-Neyra, VD Arriola, D Rivera-Lanas, GH Rodriguez, A Toledo Vizcarra, L Mollesaca Riveros, MZ Levy, A Buttenheim (2016). To spray or not to spray? Understanding participation in an indoor residual spray campaign in Arequipa, Peru. Global Public Health, Vol. 13, 2018, Iss. 1, 65-82. 17 May 2016. doi: 10.1080/17441692.2016.1178317

R Castillo-Neyra, KB Mayorí, RS Sánchez, JA Suarez, S Xie, CN Velarde, MZ Levy (2016). Heterogeneous infectiousness in guinea pigs experimentally infected with Trypanosoma cruzi. Parasitol Int. 2016 Feb; 65(1): 50–54. doi: 10.1016/j.parint.2015.09.009. 

R Castillo-Neyra, MZ Levy, C Náquira (2016). Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y Salud Publica. Rev. perú. med. exp. salud publica vol.33 no.4 Lima oct./Dic. 2016. doi: 10.17843/rpmesp.2016.334.2564.

AM Buttenheim, K Sethuraman, SB Omer, AL Hanlon, MZ Levy, D Salmon (2015). MMR vaccination status of children exempted from school-entry immunization mandates. Vaccine. 2015 Nov 17; 33(46): 6250–6256. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.09.075.

CE Khatchikian, RB Nadelman, J Nowakowski, I Schwartz, MZ Levy, D Brisson, G Wormser (2015). Public health impact of strain specific immunity to Borrelia burgdorferi. BMC Infectious Diseases, 201515:472. doi: 10.1186/s12879-015-1190-7.