John M. Drake is Regents’ Professor of Ecology at the University of Georgia, where he directs the Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases (CEID) and the Global Infectious Disease Intelligence Consortium (GIDIC). A biological modeler and data scientist, he studies the dynamics of zoonotic diseases, the macroecology of emerging pathogens, and early warning signals of epidemic transitions. He has applied spatial interaction and compartmental models to systems ranging from White-nose syndrome in North American bats and the 2013–2016 West African Ebola epidemic to the evolutionary dynamics of influenza, the spread of SARS-CoV-2 across the United States, and the global emergence of Japanese encephalitis virus. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the CDC, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the James S. McDonnell Foundation.
Dr. Drake’s current research centers on infectious disease intelligence – harnessing real-time data to inform decision-making by individuals, institutions, and policymakers during outbreaks of emerging pathogens, an interest closely aligned with Gideon’s mission. He is a member of the World Health Organization’s Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) and has advised the WHO/PREZODE working group on zoonotic emergence indicators and chaired the NIH-MIDAS Steering Committee. A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Ecological Society of America, and the British Ecological Society, he serves as Senior Editor at Ecology Letters and series editor of the Ecology & Evolution of Infectious Diseases series at Oxford University Press, and writes a regular science column for Forbes. He holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Notre Dame.