Infectious Disease Epidemiologist

Bio
I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. I study infectious disease transmission dynamics using geospatial and phylogenetic methods. I prioritize field epidemiology in support of developing transmission-interrupting interventions. I currently focus on HIV and malaria in eastern and southern Africa and India.

Education
PhD, Epidemiology, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
MS, Biostatistics, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Other Interests
I enjoy science fiction with detailed world-building, backpacking, hiking, yoga, and pickup basketball.

Selected Articles: HIV

Updated Risk Score Algorithms for Acute HIV Infection Detection at a Sexually Transmitted Infections Clinic in Lilongwe, Malawi
JAIDS. 2024 Dec 15. LINK
Bell GJ, Chen JS, Maierhofer CN, ..., Cohen MS, Hoffman IF, Miller WC, Powers KA.Race, Place, and HIV: The Legacies of Apartheid and Racist Policy in South Africa
Social Science and Medicine. 2022 Mar 1. LINK.
Bell GJ*, Ncayiyana J*, Sholomon A, Goel V, Khangelani Z, Emch M.
Media: The Guardian

Selected Articles: Malaria

Background Malaria Incidence and Parasitemia during the Three-Dose RTS,S/AS01 Vaccination Series do not Reduce Magnitude of Antibody Response nor Efficacy Against the First Case of Malaria
BMC Infectious Diseases. 2023 October 23. LINK.
Bell GJ, Gyaase S, Goel V, ..., Agnandji ST, Juliano JJ, Bailey JA.Malaria Transmission Intensity Likely Modifies RTS,S/AS01 Efficacy Due to a Rebound Effect in Ghana, Malawi, and Gabon
The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2022 July 28. LINK.
Bell GJ, Goel V, Essone P, ..., Bailey JA, Asante KP, Emch M.
Media: This Week in ParasitismImpacts of ecology, parasite antigenic variation, and human genetics on RTS,S/AS01e malaria vaccine efficacy
Current Epidemiology Reports. 2021 July 30. LINK.
Bell GJ, Agnandji ST, Asante KP, Ghansah A, Kamthunzi P, Emch M, Bailey JA.

Selected Grants

T32-AI-102623 (S Mehta PI)
NIH/NIAID
Johns Hopkins HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Sciences Training Program
Role: Postdoctoral fellow
June 2024 – PresentF31-AI-167672 (GJ Bell PI)
NIH/NIAID
Epidemiological, Geospatial, and Phylogenetic Evidence to Inform Interventions Against HIV Transmission during Acute and Early HIV Infection in Lilongwe, Malawi
Role: Principal investigator
March 2022 – May 2024

Download coming soon

Content
Day 1: Introduction to R
Day 2: Introduction to GIS
Day 3: GIS in R
Day 4: Developing intuition in epidemiology and statistics
Day 5: Advanced methods (clustering, spatial regression)