Rate My Professor Ralph Garruto

Ralph M. Garruto is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at Binghamton University, State University of New York at Binghamton, holding additional appointments as Professor of Biomedical Anthropology and Professor of Biological Sciences. He directs the Biospecimen Archive Facility and the Tick-borne Disease Research Center. Garruto received his BS, MA, and PhD from Pennsylvania State University. An elected member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1997, he is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and The World Academy of Sciences (elected 1997). His honors include the Franz Boas Distinguished Achievement Award from the Human Biology Association (2005), NIH Director's Award (1993), SUNY Medallion of Distinction (2014) making him an honorary member of the SUNY Distinguished Academy, Gorjanovic-Kramberger Medal from the Croatian Anthropological Society (2000), and Burroughs Wellcome Foundation Visiting Professorship (2001).

A human population biologist, Garruto focuses on natural experimental models of disease using field and laboratory methods. His research spans neurodegenerative disorders, including over four decades studying hyperendemic foci of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and parkinsonism-dementia in Pacific Island populations such as Guam; Lyme and tick-borne diseases; prion diseases like chronic wasting disease; health transition studies in Vanuatu and Ukraine; obesity, bionutrition, and food chain disorders. Ongoing projects are in Micronesia, Vanuatu, Ukraine, and the Northeast U.S. Laboratory efforts examine cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuronal degeneration, host-pathogen interactions, and gene-environment interactions. He began his career at the National Institutes of Health in 1973. Key publications include Arif M et al., 'Tau pathology involves protein phosphatase 2A in Parkinsonism-dementia of Guam' (PNAS, 2014); Garruto RM et al., 'Risk behaviors in a rural community with a known point-source exposure to chronic wasting disease' (Environmental Health, 2008); Sharareh N et al., 'Model-based risk assessment and public health analysis to prevent Lyme disease' (Royal Society Open Science, 2017); and Cervenakova L et al., 'Phenotype-genotype studies in kuru: Implications for new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease' (PNAS, 1998).