Nancy Saravia

Nancy Saravia is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health and Scientific Director of the Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Médicas (CIDEIM) in Cali, Colombia. She serves as a WHO Collaborating Center in Leishmaniasis and leads the Latin American Research Training Center under WHO's Special Program for Tropical Disease Research.

• Education:
  • PhD in Microbiology (1978, Vanderbilt University)
  • MSc in Pathology and Environmental Health (1972, Johns Hopkins University)
  • Postdoctoral training at University of Wisconsin, Madison (1978)

Her research focuses on the immunobiology of Leishmania infections, particularly the host-parasite relationship in endemic populations. She investigates asymptomatic infection dynamics, drug resistance mechanisms, and biomarkers for therapeutic outcomes. Her work extends to pharmacokinetic studies, clinical trials of anti-leishmanial drugs, and mHealth tools for disease surveillance.

Recent publications highlight her expertise in Leishmania drug resistance, neutrophil effector functions, and mHealth implementation in rural Colombia. These works span infectious disease epidemiology, molecular diagnostics, and health equity frameworks.

Scientific awards include

• Moselio Schaechter Distinguished Service Award (2013, American Society for Microbiology)
• Bailey K. Ashford Medal (1993, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene)
• Alejandro Angel Escobar Colombian National Prize (1994)

She has collaborated with Yale faculty since 2003 on NIH-funded grants (R01, ICIDR, Fogarty Global Infectious Disease Research Training) and hosted Yale Downs Fellows and visiting scholars from Yale School of Medicine and School of Engineering.

CIDEIM under her leadership has become a hub for neglected tropical disease research, with ongoing projects in social innovation in health, equitable research capacity building, and novel diagnostic development for Leishmaniasis.