Jan Conn
Jan E. Conn (born 1952) is a Canadian geneticist and poet. She resides in Great Barrington, Massachusetts where she does research on mosquito genetics at the Wadsworth Center, Division of Infectious Diseases, New York State Department of Health in Albany, New York. She has also written six books of poetry. Biography. Conn was born in Asbestos, Quebec and moved to Montreal at the age of 17. She received her Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Toronto in 1987. She has traveled to Guatemala, Venezuela, Florida, Vermont and Massachusetts, conducting research on insects that transmit pathogens. Before taking  up her current work on population genetics of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in South America and Africa, she was a recognized expert on the genetics of Black fly ("Simulium") species vectoring river blindness (onchocerciasis) in Central America. Poetry. Conn has written six books of poetry, including "Jaguar Rain: the Margaret Mee poems", inspired by the diaries and botanical art of Margaret Mee. She has won numerous awards and major travel grants related to poetry. Her book "South of the Tudo Bem Cafe", 1990, was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award.