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 was a recognized expert on the genetics of Black fly (Simulium) species vectoring river blindness (onchocerciasis) in Central America.

Poetry Conn has written several 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, including a CBC Literary Prize, the inaugural P.K. Page Founder’s Award, and a nomination for a Pushcart Prize in 2016. In 1987, her book The Fabulous Disguise of Ourselves was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award, as was South of the Tudo Bem Cafe, in 1991.