Juan David Ramírez-González, PhD

Professor, Department of Global, Environmental and Genomic Health Sciences

Contact Info

• Office: IDRB 336A
• Academic Email: jramirezgonzalez@usf.edu
• Academic Phone: (813) 396-2189
• View My C.V.

Education

Discipline

Tropical and Vector-Borne Diseases

Specialization

• Chagas Disease
• Leishmaniasis
• Genomic Surveillance
• Comparative Genomics
• Pathogen-Host Interactions
• Microbiome

Biography

Juan David Ramírez-González, PhD, is a microbiologist and tropical infectious disease researcher whose work centers on neglected parasitic diseases, including Trypanosoma cruzi, Leishmania spp., and Blastocystis. With more than 16 years of experience, he develops high-sensitivity molecular tools for pathogen detection and applies genomic approaches to understand parasite evolution, transmission dynamics, and host–microbiota interactions. His lab also studies the genomics and ecology of vectors in tropical and peri-tropical environments to clarify how parasites circulate among insects, animal reservoirs, and humans. Dr. Ramírez-González is a Professor in the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida and holds a concurrent professorship at Universidad del Rosario (Colombia). He leads interdisciplinary collaborations that connect microbiology, genomics, epidemiology, and public health practice, with the goal of translating discovery into improved diagnostics, surveillance systems, and control strategies. His research has been supported by competitive international funding and published in leading journals such as The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Cell, and PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications with more than 10,000 citations. An active contributor to the scientific community, Dr. Ramírez-González serves on editorial boards, reviews for major journals and funding agencies, and mentors graduate students and early-career investigators. He is committed to research integrity, open and reproducible science, and to building sustainable capacity through international partnerships—particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Across his academic roles, he prioritizes inclusive training environments and collaborative projects that yield practical benefits for communities affected by parasitic diseases.