Garth D. Ehrlich

Garth D. Ehrlich is a Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine. He holds leadership roles as Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Microbial Processing (CAMP), Center for Genomic Sciences (CGS), and other research centers. His work focuses on bacterial pathogenesis, biofilm research, and genomic technologies. Ehrlich pioneered the Distributed Genome Hypothesis (DGH), explaining bacterial diversity in chronic infections.

Education: B.A. from Alfred University (1977), Ph.D. from Syracuse University (1987), and a postdoc at SUNY Upstate Medical Center (1988). Awards include AAAS and ASM Fellowships, NIH panel memberships, and international conference roles.

Research interests include chronic bacterial infections, Alzheimer’s microbiome, and antibiotic development. His lab develops molecular diagnostics and anti-biofilm drugs targeting RelA enzymes. Notable contributions include identifying bacterial roles in Alzheimer’s and advancing PacBio-based microbiome assays.

Administrative roles include leading the Genomics Core Facility and the Center for Molecular Diagnostics during the pandemic. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers and on editorial boards for journals like BMC Evolutionary Biology.