Dr. Londoño is currently the lead scientist of the Arbovirology and Immunology Laboratory. Her research is focused on the characterization of mosquito salivary proteins as markers for disease risk and transmission dynamics. She is also looking at the interactions between immunodominant salivary proteins and vertebrate skin cells (Fibroblast, mast cells, and dendritic cells) to characterize their role in disease progression and pathogenesis. Dr. Londoño has a strong background in human immunology and microbiology and has published more than 45 peer-reviewed articles in journals, including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and PLOS Pathogens and Frontiers of Immunology in topics regarding tropical medicine and vector-borne diseases.

Dr. Hill received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980. At the most general level, Prof. Hill's research attempts to refine our understanding of how the ancient Maya became the modern Maya, particularly in the face of so many Spanish and later, national institutions designed to change them into other people. He carries out his research in the highland region of Guatemala for several reasons. First, it was an understudied area when he was in graduate school. Second, there are tremendous continuities from the late preconquest periods in many aspects of culture. Third, the documentary record is extensive and, again, was under-utilized when he began his work.

Dr. Hill has undertaken ethnographic, archaeological and ethnohistoric research in the region. For the last 20 years his focus has been ethnohistorical, using both Spanish colonial and indigenous documents to learn more about both the late preconquest and colonial periods. He has also followed up archaeological leads derived from the documents in the forms of surveys in the Department of El Quiche and Guatemala.

His major publications reflect this wide range of research. His books include Traditional Pottery of Guatemala (with his mentor, Ruben E. Reina); Continuities in Highland Maya Social Organization: Ethnohistory in Sacapulas, Guatemala (with John Monaghan); The Pirir Papers and other colonial-period, Cakchiquel-Maya Testamentos; and Colonial Cakchiquels: Highland Maya Adaptations to Spanish Rule, 1600-1700. He is currently collaborating with Prof. Judith Maxwell on translations of the major Cakchiquel chronicles, written down in Spanish characters early in the colonial period.

Dr. Ronald Blanton is a physician-scientist who began his career in studies on the molecular biology of parasitic diseases. He returned to the classroom to obtain a master’s degree in genetic epidemiology. Throughout his career, his work has integrated basic laboratory science with field epidemiology to uncover useful epidemiologic relationships and identities. This includes 30 years of experience in Brazil. For schistosomiasis and the flaviviruses dengue and hepatitis C, he identified human genetic determinants of diseases by microsatellite and SNP markers. He identified new microsatellite markers for the dengue vector Aedes aegypti and the parasite Schistosoma mansoni. Dr. Blanton sees an extraordinary opportunity for placing population genetics at the service of public health by tracing patterns of pathogen and vector distribution, the current dynamics and influences on these patterns and projecting their future directions. By developing new approaches to analyze the geographic distribution and dynamics of populations in the presence of control measures, this allows for another level for evaluation of the impact of the control measures themselves and a better understanding of how these measures might be modified. He comes to Tulane from Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine where he has served as a professor of international health in the Center for Global Health and Diseases and an adjunct professor in Population Health and Quantitative Sciences (formerly Epidemiology and Biostatistics). Prior to joining the faculty at Tulane, Dr. Blanton spent 40 years at Case Western Reserve University not only as a professor but also as an advisory board member for PubMed and a special visiting researcher at the Nation Council for Scientific and Technological Development in Brazil. An English and Spanish Literature alumnus of Harvard University, Dr. Blanton later received both his MD and MS from Case Western Reserve University.