Ronald Blanton Chair of the Department of Tropical Medicine, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Blanton received his B.A. in English literature from Harvard University (1974) and studied folk medicine in Peru before entering Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (1979). He was a professor of International Health at Case Western Reserve University for 30 year. He moved from CWRU, Cleveland, Ohio to Tulane University in 2019. He is board certified in both internal medicine and infectious diseases. In 2004 he received his MSc in Genetic Epidemiology. His main interest in parasitic diseases is schistosomiasis control and its relationship to sanitation. He recently initiated studies relating antimicrobial resistance to sanitation. In viral diseases, he has studied dengue and hepatitis C. Much of his work involves application of genetic epidemiology approaches for questions of public health. He has conducted studies in Brazil for more than 30 years but has also worked in Kenya and Egypt.