Dr. Earl Long works at the Division of Parasitic Diseases, National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), USA. He conducts training and research on parasitic and other infectious diseases. In 1990, he published the first descriptive charactersitics of the intestinal parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis from Nepal, India. He is an advisor to the World Health Organisation and the US Agency for International Development.

Earl Long was born in Castries, St. Lucia, in 1945. He attended the Catholic Boys’ School and St. Mary’s College. An avid reader, he was a good student of science and English. He gained a bachelor’s degree from Western Ontario University, Canada. His master’s and doctoral degrees were obtained from the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London. He also studied Schistosomiasis in Tanzania and later researched this infection in St. Lucia. In 1985 he became head of the Parasitic Department, Centre for Disease Control, a position he held for 19 years. During his tenure, he researched malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS, and gastroenterology in the Congo.

Long belongs to many professional organisations including the Royal College of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, London. He established collaborative research activities among the UWI School of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, and the Centre for Disease Control. Dr. Long advises kids,”If you want to get into the sciences, it is best to combine your studies with non-science subjects to get a real education.”