Award for Global Engagement

Dr. Claudia Muñoz-Zanzi’s work in epidemiology and veterinary preventive medicine crosses socioeconomic boundaries to protect people from low-middle income countries from the spread of zoonotic diseases.

Dr. Muñoz-Zanzi researches diseases — such as leptospirosis, which spreads to humans through contaminated water and through contact with infected animals — and then identifies affordable and effective strategies to manage such emerging zoonotic threats. Her research has been supported by the World Health Organization, the government of Indonesia, and the Pan American Healthcare Organization, and has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Muñoz-Zanzi played a critical role in the development of the Global Health minor and certificate at the University of Minnesota, and currently serves as program director. She has mentored more than four dozen University of Minnesota students — 24 of whom pursued global health work in Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, and Uganda.

She has organized training workshops for scientists and public health practitioners in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Indonesia to increase local capacity to control and respond to disease outbreaks. Her research has been published 73 times in peer-reviewed journals, and she has served as a member of the scientific review panel for the Global Health Fellowship Program and as Associate Editor of PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.