Justin Bahl

Justin Bahl is a Professor of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the University of Georgia, with joint appointments in the College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Public Health, and the Institute of Bioinformatics. His research focuses on molecular epidemiology, pathogen evolution, and infectious disease dynamics, particularly for RNA viruses like influenza and SARS-CoV-2. He leads the Georgia Pathogen Genomics Center of Excellence, one of five CDC-funded centers, and collaborates with institutions across Georgia and globally.

Education: Postdoctoral training at the University of Hong Kong (State Key Laboratory for Emerging Infectious Diseases), Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School (Singapore), and tenure at the University of Texas School of Public Health before joining UGA in 2018.

Research Interests: Molecular epidemiology of RNA viruses, evolutionary modeling, phylodynamics, and public health surveillance. Projects include SARS-CoV-2 transmission analysis, avian influenza ecology, and development of universal vaccine strategies.

Notable Collaborations: Georgia Department of Public Health, Houston Health Department, and labs at Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the CDC. Supervises postdoctoral and PhD trainees in computational epidemiology and grant development.

Labs/Teams: Bahl Lab at UGA, focused on applied molecular epidemiology and bioinformatics, with emphasis on viral evolution and outbreak response.