Research Focus
Parasitic diseases still plague broad swaths of the world’s developing countries, reducing childhood survival rates and stunting economic growth. However, genome sequence data for the pathogens involved and funding from various organizations give new hope of controlling or even eliminating these diseases. Dr. Anderson focuses on the genetic basis and evolution of biomedically important traits in two of the most important human groups of parasites:

Malaria parasites (~655,000 deaths per year)
Parasitic blood fluke (Schistosoma species) responsible for schistosomiasis (~200,000 deaths per year)