We build for the future.
Where We work
Our collaborators
Center for Development and Regional Planning (CEDEPLAR), Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Institute of Geography, Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Galapagos Science Center (GSC), Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI)
Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI)
Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI)
Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología de Panamá AIP (INDICASAT-AIP)
Research Unit on Emerging Diseases and Climate Change (EMERGE), Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Tulane Health Office for Latin America (HOLA), Tulane University
Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University
Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University
Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Ecology Lab, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Hydroclimate Research Group, Johns Hopkins University
State University of New York at Albany
Our Current Projects
Discover how our current projects are advancing knowledge and creating solutions across Latin America and beyond. Learn More >
DATA
Explore our Dashboards and Forecasts
Explore our interactive dashboards and forecasts designed to inform policy and action.
Publications
Marchese M, Gerson JR, Berky AJ, Driscoll C, Fernandez LE, Hsu-Kim H, Lansdale KN, Letourneau E, Montesdeoca M, Pan WK, Robie E, Vega C, & Bernhardt ES (2024). Diet choices determine mercury exposure risks for people living in gold mining regions of Peru. Environmental Research: Health, 2(3), 035001–035001. https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ad3d79
Recalde-Coronel GC, Zaitchik B, Pan WK, Zhou Y, & Badr H. (2024). Contributions of Initial Conditions and Meteorological Forecast to Subseasonal-to-Seasonal Hydrological Forecast Skill in Western Tropical South America. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 25(5), 709–733. https://doi.org/10.1175/jhm-d-23-0064.1
Janko MM, Araujo AL, Ascencio EJ, Guedes GR, Vasco LE, Santos RO, Damasceno CP, Medrano PG, Chacón-Uscamaita PR, Gunderson AK, O’Malley S, Kansara PH, Narvaez MB, Coombes C, Pizzitutti F, Salmon-Mulanovich G, Zaitchik BF, Mena CF, Lescano AG, Barbieri AF, Pan WK (2024). Study protocol: improving response to malaria in the Amazon through identification of inter-community networks and human mobility in border regions of Ecuador, Peru and Brazil. BMJ Open, 14(4), e078911. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-078911
Gunderson AK, Recalde-Coronel C, Zaitchick BF, Yori PP, Rengifo Pinedo S, Paredes Olortegui M, Kosek M, Vinetz JM, Pan WK. (2024). A prospective cohort study linking migration, climate, and malaria risk in the Peruvian Amazon – CORRIGENDUM. Epidemiology and Infection, 152, e5. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0950268824000025
Navas ALA, Janko MM, Benítez FL, Narvaez M, Vasco LE, Kansara P, Zaitchik B, Pan WK, Mena CF (2024). Impact of climate and land use/land cover changes on malaria incidence in the Ecuadorian Amazon. PLOS Climate, 3(4), e0000315. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000315
Pizzitutti F, Bonnet G, Gonzales-Gustavson E, Gabriël S, Pan W K, Gonzalez AE, Garcia HH, O’Neal SE, Cysticercosis Working Group in Peru (2023). Spatial transferability of an agent-based model to simulate Taenia solium control interventions. Parasites & Vectors, 16(1), 410. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-023-06003-9
Berky AJ, Weinhouse C, Vissoci J, Rivera N, Ortiz EJ, Navio S, Miranda JJ, Mallipudi A, Fixen E, Hsu-Kim H, Pan WK (2023). In Utero Exposure to Metals and Birth Outcomes in an Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Birth Cohort in Madre de Dios, Peru. Environmental Health Perspectives, 131(9), 97008. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp10557
Janko MM, Recalde-Coronel GC, Damasceno CP, Salmón-Mulanovich G, Barbieri AF, Lescano AG, Zaitchik BF, Pan WK. (2023). The impact of sustained malaria control in the Loreto region of Peru: a retrospective, observational, spatially-varying interrupted time series analysis of the PAMAFRO program. Lancet Regional Health. Americas, 20, 100477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2023.100477
Neta G, Pan W, Ebi K, Buss DF, Castranio T, Lowe R, Ryan SJ, Stewart-Ibarra AM, Hapairai LK, Sehgal M, Wimberly MC, Rollock L, Lichtveld M, Balbus J (2022). Advancing climate change health adaptation through implementation science. The Lancet. Planetary Health, 6(11), e909–e918. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2542-5196(22)00199-1
Recalde-Coronel GC, Zaitchik B, Pan W, & Getirana A. (2022). Influence of Vegetation on Simulation of the Water Balance and Hydrological Response to El Niño–Southern Oscillation in Western Tropical South America. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 23(11), 1737–1757. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-21-0081.1
Berky AJ, Robie E, Navio Chipa S, Ortiz EJ, Palmer EJ, Rivera NA, Maria Morales Avalos A, Meyer JN, Hsu-Kim H, Pan WK (2022). Risk of lead exposure from wild game consumption from cross-sectional studies in Madre de Dios, Peru. Lancet Regional Health. Americas, 12, 100266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2022.100266
Pettigrew SM, Pan WK, Harrington J, Berky A, Rojas E, Feingold BJ (2022). Adult Exposures to Toxic Trace Elements as Measured in Nails along the Interoceanic Highway in the Peruvian Amazon. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(10), 6335. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106335
McCormick BJJ, Richard SA, Murray-Kolb LE, Kang G, Lima AAM, Mduma E, Kosek MN, Rogawski McQuade ET, Houpt ER, Bessong P, Shrestha S, Bhutta Z, Ahmed T, Caulfield LE, MAL-ED Network Investigators (2022). Full breastfeeding protection against common enteric bacteria and viruses: results from the MAL-ED cohort study. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 115(3), 759–769. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqab391
Gerson JR, Szponar N, Zambrano AA, Bergquist B, Broadbent E, Driscoll CT, Erkenswick G, Evers DC, Fernandez LE, Hsu-Kim H, Inga G, Lansdale KN, Marchese MJ, Martinez A, Moore C, Pan WK, Purizaca RP, Sánchez V, Silman M, Ury EA, Vega C, Watsa M, Bernhardt ES (2022). Amazon forests capture high levels of atmospheric mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining. Nature Communications, 13(1), 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-27997-3
Pizzitutti F, Bonnet G, Gonzales-Gustavson E, Gabriël S, Pan WK, Pray IW, Gonzalez AE, Garcia HH, O’Neal SE, Cysticercosis Working Group in Peru (2022). Non-local validated parametrization of an agent-based model of local-scale Taenia solium transmission in North-West Peru. PloS One, 17(9), e0275247. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275247
Koenigsmark F, Weinhouse C, Berky AJ, Morales AM, Ortiz EJ, Pierce EM, Pan WK, Hsu-Kim H (2021). Efficacy of Hair Total Mercury Content as a Biomarker of Methylmercury Exposure to Communities in the Area of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Madre de Dios, Peru. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(24), 13350. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413350
Pray IW, Pizzitutti F, Bonnet G, Gonzales-Gustavson E, Wakeland W, Pan WK, Lambert WE, Gonzalez AE, Garcia HH, O’Neal SE, Cysticercosis Working Group in Peru (2021). Validation of a spatial agent-based model for Taenia solium transmission (“CystiAgent”) against a large prospective trial of control strategies in northern Peru. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 15(10), e0009885. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009885
Tyrovolas S, Giné-Vázquez I, Fernández D, Morena M, Koyanagi A, Janko M, Haro JM, Lin Y, Lee P, Pan W, Panagiotakos D, Molassiotis A (2021). Estimating the COVID-19 Spread Through Real-time Population Mobility Patterns: Surveillance in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(6), e22999. https://doi.org/10.2196/22999
Richard SA, McCormick BJJ, Murray-Kolb LE, Bessong P, Shrestha SK, Mduma E, Ahmed T, Kang G, Lee GO, Seidman JC, Svensen E, Kosek MN, Caulfield LE, MAL-ED Network Investigators (2021). Influences on catch-up growth using relative versus absolute metrics: evidence from the MAL-ED cohort study. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 1246. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11120-0
Lana JT, Mallipudi A, Ortiz EJ, Arevalo JH, Llanos-Cuentas A, Pan WK (2021). Risk factors for cutaneous leishmaniasis in a high-altitude forest region of Peru. Tropical Medicine and Health, 49(1), 40. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41182-021-00332-0
Weinhouse C, Gallis JA, Ortiz E, Berky AJ, Morales AM, Diringer SE, Harrington J, Bullins P, Rogers L, Hare-Grogg J, Hsu-Kim H, Pan WK (2021). A population-based mercury exposure assessment near an artisanal and small-scale gold mining site in the Peruvian Amazon. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, 31(1), 126–136. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-020-0234-2
Pan WK, Weinhouse C, Ortiz EJ, Berky AJ, Fixsen E, Mallipudi A, Feingold BJ, Navio S, Rivera NA, Hsu-Kim H, Miranda JJ (2021). CoNaMad-Cohorte de Nacimiento de Madre de Dios/Madre de Dios Birth Cohort to Study Effects of in-utero Trace Metals Exposure in the Southern Peruvian Amazon. Ann Glob Health, 87(1), 69. https://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.3152
Gunderson AK, Kumar RE, Recalde-Coronel C, Vasco LE, Valle-Campos A, Mena CF, Zaitchik BF, Lescano AG, Pan WK, Janko MM (2020). Malaria Transmission and Spillover across the Peru-Ecuador Border: A Spatiotemporal Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(20), E7434. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17207434
McCormick BJJ, Caulfield LE, Richard SA, Pendergast L, Seidman JC, Maphula A, Koshy B, Blacy L, Roshan R, Nahar B, Shrestha R, Rasheed M, Svensen E, Rasmussen Z, Scharf RJ, Haque S, Oria R, Murray-Kolb LE, MAL-ED Network Investigators (2020). Early Life Experiences and Trajectories of Cognitive Development. Pediatrics, 146(3), e20193660. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-3660
Berky AJ, Robie E, Ortiz EJ, Meyer JN, Hsu-Kim H, Pan WK (2020). Evaluation of Peruvian Government Interventions to Reduce Childhood Anemia. Annals of Global Health, 86(1), 98. https://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.2896
Pray IW, Wakeland W, Pan W, Lambert WE, Garcia HH, Gonzalez AE, O’Neal SE, Cysticercosis Working Group in Peru (2020). Understanding transmission and control of the pork tapeworm with CystiAgent: a spatially explicit agent-based model. Parasites & Vectors, 13(1), 372. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-020-04226-8
Reuben A, Frischtak H, Berky A, Ortiz EJ, Morales AM, Hsu-Kim H, Pendergast LL, Pan WK (2020). Elevated Hair Mercury Levels Are Associated With Neurodevelopmental Deficits in Children Living Near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Peru. GeoHealth, 4(5), e2019GH000222. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gh000222
Engaging with communities & local partners
Building meaningful relationships with communities and local partners to co-create sustainable solutions.
Working With Communities to Save Lives and the Environment
Building Community Trust to Change Policy in the Peruvian Amazon
Mitigating Mercury Pollution in the Madre de Dios Watershed
Advancing Policy for a Sustainable Future
Translating research into actionable policies that advance health and resilience across Latin America.
An Exciting Step Towards a Shared Research-Policy Agenda in "Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining"
Creating the State of Public Health Emergency for Mercury Exposure in Peru
Peru’s State of Emergency Ends: Advancing Policy and Action on Mercury Exposure
TRAINING
Empowering Tomorrow's Change-Makers
We are developing the next generation of researchers to lead innovative solutions in Latin America.
