Bryan Thomas Grenfell

Dr. Bryan Thomas Grenfell is a Professor of Ecology and Public Affairs in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University. Grenfell is a population biologist working at the interface between theoretical models and empirical data with over 25 years experience in disease dynamics research. Grenfell is particularly interested in: (1) understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics of infectious disease; (2) exploring how pathogen phylogenies are affected by host immunity, transmission bottlenecks, and epidemic dynamics; and (3) investigating the interaction of noise and non-linear density-dependent feedback to drive population processes at different scales. He is currently working on a collaborative project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to evaluate the potential of vaccines to control deadly infectious-disease outbreaks worldwide. The grant will fund the creation of computer simulations of epidemics — showing worst-case and best-case outbreak scenarios — and will be used to evaluate new vaccine technologies and modes of vaccine delivery. Grenfell has received widespread recognition for his work, including the T.H. Huxley Medal, the Scientific Medal of the Zoological Society of London, and the Order of the British Empire. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in addition to his American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership. Grenfell has authored over 200 scientific papers in journals such as Lancet Infectious Diseases, Nature, and Science.