Environmental Health Science Department Head and Professor Travis Glenn has been named the Dean Phillip Williams Endowed Professor at the University of Georgia College of Public Health.

Glenn joined the College of Public Health in 2007 and has built an internationally recognized research program at the intersection of genomics, evolution and environmental health. Trained in zoology, natural resources and animal ecology, Glenn brings a uniquely integrative perspective to public health challenges that bridges basic biological discovery with applied environmental and infectious disease research.

He currently serves as Department Head for Environmental Health Sciences in the College of Public Health and Director of UGA’s Institute of Bioinformatics.

“Dr. Glenn’s scholarship is innovative and impactful, his leadership is thoughtful and steady and his ability to bring people together across disciplines has strengthened our college and university in lasting ways,” said Dean Marsha Davis. “The Dean Phillip Williams Endowed Professorship is a fitting recognition of Travis’s contributions and of the confidence we have in his continued leadership, enabling him to advance his research in genomic evolution while supporting teaching, mentorship, and interdisciplinary work that aligns closely with our mission.”

Dr. Glenn has used the moniker “BadDNA” for his work since he studied weird chunks of repetitive DNA from “old dead stuff” at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History. His group continues to be known as the BadDNA lab because the name reflects what his group works on in terms of the types of DNA, as well as where the DNA comes from. His lab now creates and applies leading edge genomic tools to solve problems in environmental health and infectious disease ecology.

The BadDNA lab has projects funded by the CDC, NIH, NSF, and other federal agencies. It facilitates collaborations across campus and across One Health disciplines, including: bioinformatics, ecology, evolution, environmental health, genetics, natural resources and toxicology.

“I greatly appreciate the University of Georgia establishing an endowed professorship in recognition of my efforts as founding dean of the College of Public Health and congratulate Travis Glenn for being its initial recipient,” said founding Dean Phillip Williams.

Glenn’s work has created new genomic tools and shed light on avian evolution, SARS-CoV-2, the transmission of Lyme disease and more. This endowed professorship will enable him to continue vital work in genomic evolution.

“I am honored and humbled to receive this Professorship. I had the great privilege to collaborate with Dean Williams prior to the foundation of the College of Public Health, and was hired into the position, and lab, he had to leave to assume the role of Dean,” said Glenn. “This Professorship will facilitate work that bridges some of the many contributions of Environmental Health to One Health at UGA. I hope this work builds on the foundation laid by Dean Williams and extended by Dean Davis.”

Established in 2020, the Dean Phillip Williams Professorship fund aims to strengthen programs within the college and support a tenured professor in their ongoing research, teaching and related expenses. It honors founding Dean Phillip L. Williams, who served as a UGA faculty member for more than 25 years and held the Georgia Power Professorship in Environmental Health. Williams chaired the university-wide committee that led to the college’s creation in 2005, and he retired in 2018.

By Erica Techo