Yonatan Grad

Yonatan Grad is Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He also serves as Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and as Instructor in Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Grad earned his MD and PhD from Harvard Medical School, completed internal medicine training at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and infectious diseases fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. His research fellowship was conducted in the CCDD with Marc Lipsitch.

His research focuses on pathogen evolution and spread, particularly antibiotic resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The Grad Lab employs interdisciplinary approaches combining genomics, microbiology, mathematical modeling, and epidemiological tools to study infectious disease dynamics. Their work spans sexually transmitted infections, antimicrobial resistance, and pandemic preparedness, with gonorrhea as a primary model pathogen for understanding resistance mechanisms.

Analysis of Grad's recent publications reveals a strong focus on mathematical modeling of antimicrobial resistance dynamics, particularly for gonorrhea. His work examines the impact of interventions like doxycycline prophylaxis on resistance patterns, spatial-temporal modeling of resistant gonorrhea, and improved diagnostics for resistance surveillance. The research integrates epidemiological data with genomic analysis to inform public health strategies.

Grad has received multiple NIH grants as Principal Investigator, including R01 and R21 awards focused on understanding antibiotic resistance mechanisms in gonorrhea. His research group includes postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and collaborators across disciplines including microbiology, molecular biology, medicine, infectious disease epidemiology, applied mathematics, and physics.

The Grad Lab actively collaborates with clinical and public health institutions to translate research findings into improved diagnostics, therapeutics, and public health strategies. Current projects include optimizing interventions for antibiotic resistance, improving pathogen surveillance systems, and developing models for predicting resistance emergence.