Lic. in Biology(Minor in Parasitology and Medical Entomology) Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela) 2001
M.Sc. in Ecology Universidad Central de Venezuela 2003
Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Michigan 2008

I have been studying insect vectors and the diseases they transmit since I was an undergraduate in Venezuela. Before coming to Indiana, I was an associate researcher, and external consultant, at Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud (Gorgas Memorial Research Institute) in Panamá (2017-2022); an external faculty of the Entomology Masters at Universidad de Panamá (2020-2022); a senior researcher at INCIENSA (Costa Rican Institute for Research and Training on Health and Nutrition) in Costa Rica (2018-2019); an assistant professor at the Nagasaki University Institute of Tropical Medicine (2013-2016) in Japan. I had postdoctoral training on the mathematical modeling of coupled natural and social systems at Hokkaido University as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellow (2010-2012) and in Vector Ecology and Environmental Studies at Emory University (2008-2010) where I was a member of the NIH-RAPIDD (Research and Policy on Infectious Disease Dynamics) group on vector-borne diseases. I have directed research projects in Costa Rica, Panamá, USA, Venezuela and Japan. I have collaborated in projects based in Canada, Brazil, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Taiwan, Korea, Vanuatu and Kenya, among other places. In this process I have mentored a diverse group of students at different stages in their training. Research results have been published in over 120 papers mainly focused on insect vectors, vector-borne diseases and other diseases sensitive to environmental change.

Scholarly Interest

The Chaves lab studies the impacts of environmental change on the ecology of insect vectors and the diseases they transmit. The approach combines both field work and modeling to answer questions about the impact of both rising temperatures and changing environments on vectors and their associated diseases. We also study the coupling of natural and social phenomena in pathogen transmission, primarily looking at political, economic and geographic factors that affect the emergence and transmission of pathogens. In general, our research aims to generate results that can inform policy and decision making aimed at reducing the burden of vector-borne and neglected tropical diseases.

Chaves LF, Calzada JE, Valderrama A, Saldaña A. Cutaneous leishmaniasis and sand fly fluctuations are associated with El Niño in Panamá. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2014 Oct 2;8(10):e3210. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003210.

Chaves LF, Chuang TW, Sasa M, Gutiérrez JM. Snakebites are associated with poverty, weather fluctuations, and El Niño. Sci Adv. 2015 Sep 11;1(8):e1500249. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1500249.

Yamada K, Valderrama A, Gottdenker N, Cerezo L, Minakawa N, Saldaña A, Calzada JE, Chaves LF. Macroecological patterns of American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis transmission across the health areas of Panamí(1980-2012). Parasite Epidemiol Control. 2016 Mar 18;1(2):42-55. doi:10.1016/j.parepi.2016.03.003.

Hurtado LA, Calzada JE, Rigg CA, Castillo M, Chaves LF. Climatic fluctuations and malaria transmission dynamics, prior to elimination, in Guna Yala, República de Panamá. Malar J. 2018 Feb 20;17(1):85. doi:10.1186/s12936-018-2235-3.

Romero LM, Chaverri LG, Chaves LF. Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Species Composition in Ovitraps From a Mesoamerican Tropical Montane Cloud Forest. J Med Entomol. 2019 Feb 25;56(2):491-500. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjy170

Marín Rodríguez R, Chaves LF. Parasite Removal for Malaria Elimination in Costa Rica. Trends Parasitol. 2019 Aug;35(8):585-588. doi:10.1016/j.pt.2019.04.007.

Chaves LF, Friberg MD, Moji K. Synchrony of globally invasive Aedes spp. immature mosquitoes along an urban altitudinal gradient in their native range. Sci Total Environ. 2020 Sep 10;734:139365. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139365

Chaves LF, Ramírez Rojas M, Prado M, Garcés JL, Salas Peraza D, Marín Rodríguez R. Health policy impacts on malaria transmission in Costa Rica. Parasitology. 2020 Aug;147(9):999-1007. doi: 10.1017/S0031182020000621.

Chaves LF, Valerín Cordero JA, Delgado G, Aguilar-Avendaño C, Maynes E, Gutiérrez Alvarado JM, Ramírez Rojas M, Romero LM, Mariacute;n Rodríguez R. Modeling the association between Aedes aegypti ovitrap egg counts, multi-scale remotely sensed environmental data and arboviral cases at Puntarenas, Costa Rica (2017-2018). Curr Res Parasitol Vector Borne Dis. 2021 Feb 9;1:100014. doi:10.1016/j.crpvbd.2021.100014.

Chaves LF, Friberg MD, Hurtado LA, Marín Rodríguez R, O'Sullivan D, Bergmann LR. Trade, uneven development and people in motion: Used territories and the initial spread of COVID-19 in Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. Socioecon Plann Sci. 2022 Mar;80:101161. doi: 10.1016/j.seps.2021.101161.