Manuel Baldeón, Visiting Professor
- Graduated as a medical doctor from Universidad Central del Ecuador. Master’s and Ph. D. degrees from the Division of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Post doctoral work in nutrition and Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital and University of Virginia.
- Interested in the study of the immune system and nutritional status in the states of health and disease. The focus of our work is to study the most prevalent diseases in Ecuador, namely infectious tropical diseases, chronic non-transmittable diseases like type 2 diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.
- Thanks to a grant from the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program Dr. Baldeón is studying the molecular mechanisms by which the consumption of the seaweed Undaria pinnatifida (wakame) decreases blood pressure in the Spontaneous Hypertensive Rat model. The research also addresses the components of wakame responsible for the decrease in blood pressure.