downs graduated from cornell medical college in medicine in 1938 after studying tropical parasitology with pedro kouri at the university of havana, cuba. he went to trinidad and tobago, b.w.i. in 1941 and studied malaria there until 1943 when he was inducted into the u.s. army as a 1st lieutenant. his epidemiological survey of malaria in trinidad and tobago in 1941-1943 is one of the classic works in the field.