Faculty

Joseph Zunt, MD

• Professor, Neurology and Global Health
  Adjunct Professor, Medicine and Epidemiology
• University of Washington

Dr. Zunt received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota, completed his neurology residency and infectious diseases fellowship at the University of Washington. He also obtained a Masters degree in Public Health (Epidemiology) and a Teaching Scholars Certificate Program at the University of Washington. Over the past 17 years, he has built a collaborative research and training network involving the University of Washington and numerous medical centers, nongovernmental organizations and universities throughout Peru. His NIH-funded research interests in Peru include:

1. clinical, neurologic and virologic manifestations of HIV, HTLV-I, and HTLV-II infections and coinfections in the general population and in marginalized populations, including commercial sex workers (CSW), men who have sex with men, and people with neurologic disabilities;
2. HPV and other sexually transmitted infections in CSW;
3. viral and "tropical" infections of the nervous system;
4. assessment and education of CSW and adolescents regarding STI, violence and reproductive health;
5. clinical, operational and health services research and training for AID and TB infections; and
6. multidisciplinary evaluation of health and the built environment in slums.

Dr. Zunt is board-certified in neurology and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the International Society for Neurovirology, the North American Neurocysticercosis Consortium, the Sociedad Peruana de Neurologia and the World Federation of Neurology. He is Co-Director of the CFAR International Core, PI of one of five NIH Fogarty Global Health Fellows Program Consortia, member of the Department of Global Health Curriculum Advisory Group, Global Health Pathway Working Group and Internal Medicine Residency Global Health Advisory Group.

Selected Publications

Zunt JR, Montano SM, Beck I, Alarcon JOV, Frenkel LM, Bautisita CT, Price R, Longstreth WT. Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis: viral load and muscle tone are correlated. J Neurovirology. 2006;12:466-72.
[ PubMed Abstract ]

Harrington AT, Creutzfeldt CJ, SenGupta DJ, Hoogestraat DR, Zunt JR, Cookson BT. Diagnosis of neurocysticercosis by detection of Taenia solium DNA using a global DNA screening platform. Clin Infect Disease. 2009;48(1):86-90
[ PubMed Abstract ]

La Rosa AM, Zunt JR, Peinado J, Lama JR, Ton TGN, Montano SM, Suarez L, Pun M, Cabezas C, Sanchez JL. Retroviral infection in Peruvian men who have sex with men. Clin Infect Dis. 2009;49(1):112-7.
[ PubMed Abstract ]

Shah SK, Novell B, Montano SM, Behrens C, Zunt JR. Malnutrition associated with increased risk of peripheral neuropathy in Peruvian children with HIV infection. Global Pub Health. 2010;14:1-13. PMID 20635270
[ Link to PubMed ]

Montano SM, Hsieh EJ, Calderon M, Ton TG, Quijano E, Solari V, Zunt JR. Human papillomavirus infection in female sex workers in Lima, Peru. Sex Transm Infect. 2011;87(1):81-2.
PMID 20813720.
[ PubMed Abstract ]

Blas MM, Alva IE, Garcia PJ, Carcamo C, Montano SM, Muñante R, Zunt JR. Association between Human Papillomavirus and Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus in Indigenous Women from the Peruvian Amazon. PLoS One. 2012;7:e4420.
PMID 22952937.
[ PLoS ONE Abstract ]

 

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