Tovi Lehmann PhD

Dr. Lehmann has studied population genetics, ecology, and behavior of the African malaria mosquito, Anopheles Gambia, and its relationship to disease transmission and control. As a postdoc, under Frank Collins at CDC, he studied patterns of gene flow among populations of this species and the degree of isolation between sibling species on the genetic level. This led to studies on the behavioral and ecological mechanisms that promote reproductive isolation (speciation) between diverging populations. In addition, he was tempted again and again to study the factors and processes that determine the susceptibility of mosquitoes to pathogens. Over the past ten years, his obsession has been to resolve the “dry season malaria paradox” and uncover how mosquitoes persist through the long dry season without available surface water as larval sites. Studies he has led have produced compelling evidence for aestivation (summer dormancy) and long-distance migration in the persistence of vectors and malaria in dry areas. Before joining NIH, Dr. Lehmann studied the molecular epidemiology of toxoplasmosis, the behavior of the parasitic nematodes in the body of their blackfly host, and the population biology of ectoparasites on rodent hosts.