Professor
College of Public Health
University of Georgia
Website: Applied Molecular Epidemiology Group
Dr. Bahl is an associate professor in the Department of Infectious Disease, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Bioinformatics, and a member of the Center for Ecology of Infectious Diseases and Center for Vaccine and Immunology. His research is focused on the molecular epidemiology, ecology and genetic evolution of RNA viruses, particularly those that pose a risk to animal and human health. He coordinates the research activities in the lab. The work is directed towards uncovering how population structure, host immune pressure, geographic spread and transmission bottlenecks shape viral genetic diversity. His work has been funded by NIH, NSF and CDC. Dr Bahl’s expertise has been in high demand during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. His team is now working on methods to rapidly identify growing transmission clusters using genomic data, assisting multiple institutions and Public Health Labs with processing newly sequenced CoVID-19 samples and investigating the emergence of beta-coronaviruses. Research in the group is interdiscilinary and highly collaborative. Interested in joinging the team? We have openings for talented and motivated PhD students and Post-Doctoral researchers. Contact me (justin dot bahl @ uga dot edu) for more information.