Juan León

Juan Leon is a member of the Center for Global Safe Water. His primary appointment is in the Hubert Department of Global Health at the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology from Dartmouth College. He received both his PhD in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis and Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology from Northwestern University. He moved to Emory University in 2003.Dr. Leon s area of research focuses on the immune response of individuals and populations to parasitic and enteric viral pathogens, especially those involved in foodborne and waterborne disease. He has studied autoimmunity and Chagas disease caused by the parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi. With Dr. Rick Rheingans, he is studying the effect of helminth (parasitic worms) infection in Kenyan schoolchildren. With Dr. Christine Moe, he is currently studying immune factors of susceptibility to noroviruses through both clinical trials and epidemiology studies in Peru and Bolivia. In conjunction with the PanAmerican Health Organization (PAHO) and the Bolivian Ministry of Health, he is also assisting the Rotavirus Surveillance project in Bolivia to determine risk factors for pediatric rotavirus infection and the cost of rotavirus to Bolivia prior to the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine. His field research also includes work on the U.S.-Mexico border to identify risk factors for environmental contamination of both domestic and imported fruits and vegetables. His laboratory research focuses on developing new assays to determine immune response to parasitic and enteric viral pathogens. He is also currently studying the persistence of enteric viruses in ground water.Dr. Leon currently serves as a reviewer for a number of immunology, parasitology, virology, food protection, and epidemiology journals. He teaches the Global Perspectives in Parasitic Disease course to MPH students as well as invited lectures on Chagas disease, noroviruses, water and sanitation interventions in developing countries, and immunoassays, for other courses. He is a member of Sigma Xi-the Scientific Research Society, the American Association of Immunology, the American Society for Virology, the American Public Health Association, and the Global Health Council.