Hector Hugo Garcia MD, PhD

Dr. Garcia is one of the foremost researchers worldwide in the study of neurocysticercosis, a preventable parasitic infection of the central nervous system caused by the pork tapeworm Taenia solium. His team has performed several of the most important studies examining the clinical benefits of the cytocidal drugs albendazole and praziquantel, improving treatment and preventing the need for retreatment of patients with neurocysticercosis. Dr. Garcia has a long history in global health research and training, including the successful direction of a 10-year cysticercosis elimination program in northern coastal Peru funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Dr. Garcia leads the Cysticercosis Working Group in Peru, a multi-institutional group working on varied aspects of cysticercosis research supported by NIH, The Wellcome Trust, and other agencies. This network also offers hands-on training in global health research to local scientists and health professionals, supported by the NIH Fogarty International Center. His lab has over 250 peer-reviewed publications in cysticercosis and other research in diverse subjects of public health importance in Peru. 

Dr. Garcia earned his Ph.D. in 2002 from The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and his M.D. in 1989 from The Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru. He has been a senior international research fellow of The Wellcome Trust, UK, and was awarded the Christophe and Rodolphe Merieux Prix from the Merieux Foundation and the Institut de France in 2011. He is on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Experimental Parasitology, and World Journal of Gastroenterology; an associate editor for PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases; and an editorial consultant for the Lancet.