Justin Bahl
Epidemiology & Biostatistics
Professor
Department of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine
Institute of Bioinformatics
Center for Applied Pathogen Epidemiology and Outbreak Response
Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases
Center for Vaccines and Immunology
Epidemiology & Biostatistics
My faculty appointment is split between the College of Veterinary Medicine, the College of Public Health, and the Institute for Bioinformatics, where I contribute to teaching, research, and service areas in each unit. I have developed a cross-disciplinary research and training program focused on molecular systematics, pathogen evolution, and epidemiology.
My training in evolutionary biology, epidemiology and ecology has equipped me for a research career focused on infectious disease dynamics. In 2006, I joined the State Key Laboratory for Emerging Infectious Diseases as a post-doctoral fellow (Viral Ecology and Evolution, The University of Hong Kong). This lab is a WHO H5 reference laboratory for diagnosing influenza A/H5 infection. I later moved to Singapore to continue my postdoctoral training (Molecular Epidemiology, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School) where I was promoted to Assistant Professor. In 2013, I joined the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston as an Associate Professor before joining UGA in 2018. I was promoted to Professor in 2023.
My recent effort has focused on developing a multi-state, collaborative network of Public Health Laboratories and Departments (Georgia Department of Public Health, US Virgin Island Diagnostic Laboratory, Houston Health Department) and researchers across Georgia (UGA, Georgia Tech, August Medical College, Emory) to address data modernization needs, advanced molecular diagnostics, and surveillance, and applied molecular epidemiology. This research network has been established to address respiratory pathogens (respiratory syncytial virus, influenza A and B virus), Hospital-acquired infections, emerging antimicrobial-resistant pathogens, and wastewater surveillance. This collaboration will address workforce training needs in molecular epidemiology and establish an applied practical experience program in molecular epidemiology and bioinformatics. I am the academic lead for the Georgia Pathogen Genomics Center of Excellence, 1 of 5 CDC-funded Centers.
