Dr. Luis G Castellanos, is a natural from Guatemala where he started his professional carrier in 1980, earning a medical degree from the University of San Carlos’s Medical School. Later he completed an MPH from the University of Puerto Rico and soon after received a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of South Carolina. Complementary to his carrier, between 1994 and 1996, Dr. Castellanos completed the EIS two-year training in applied epidemiology at the CDC in Atlanta, US.

In 1997, Dr. Castellanos joined the Pan American Health Organization where he has served in various functions and countries of Latin America, mainly advising governments in the prevention and control of outbreaks, and lately, focusing on the prevention, control and elimination of priority infectious diseases. Since 2011, Dr. Castellanos serves in PAHO HQ as senior advisor and Unit Chief of the Neglected, Tropical and Vector Borne Diseases Unit.