Dr. Keith A. Crandall is a distinguished computational biologist, bioinformaticist, and population geneticist, currently serving as the Founding Director of the Computational Biology Institute at George Washington University (GWU). He also holds a professorship in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at GWU’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, where he leads cutting-edge research at the intersection of genomics, infectious disease, and data science.

Dr. Crandall’s academic journey began with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Biology from Kalamazoo College in 1987. He went on to earn both an M.A. in Statistics and a Ph.D. in Biology and Biomedical Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis in 1993. His doctoral research, under the mentorship of Alan Templeton, focused on molecular systematics and evolutionary biology, particularly within crayfish lineages.

Following his Ph.D., Dr. Crandall completed prestigious postdoctoral fellowships funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the National Science Foundation at the University of Texas, where he studied molecular evolution under renowned scientists Jim Bull and David Hillis.

Dr. Crandall began his academic career at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1996, where he rose through the ranks from assistant professor to full professor and department chair. During his tenure at BYU, he was recognized as an ISI Highly Cited Researcher and received the Honors Professor of the Year award in 2012.

In 2012, Dr. Crandall was recruited by George Washington University to establish the Computational Biology Institute, a multidisciplinary hub for research in genomics, bioinformatics, and systems biology. Under his leadership, the institute has become a national leader in computational approaches to public health and biomedical research. He also directs the Genomics Core Facility at GWU and co-directs both the Informatics Core of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Children’s National Health System and the Ph.D. Program in Genomics and Bioinformatics at GWU.

Dr. Crandall’s research spans a wide array of topics, including infectious disease evolution, microbiome analysis, molecular evolution, and population genetics. His lab is particularly known for developing and applying novel data analytic methods to large-scale Omics and clinical datasets. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and authored or edited several influential books, including The Evolution of HIV, Algorithms in Bioinformatics, and Decapod Crustacean Phylogenetics.

His work has been supported by major funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and the American Foundation for AIDS Research, among others. Dr. Crandall has also been a Fulbright Scholar at Oxford University and held a sabbatical fellowship at the Bioinformatics Institute at the University of Auckland.

In recognition of his contributions to science and education, Dr. Crandall has received numerous awards, including the American Naturalist Society Young Investigator Award, NSF CAREER Award, and the Edward O. Wilson Naturalist Award. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Linnean Society of London.

Beyond his academic and research achievements, Dr. Crandall is also known for his global perspective, having served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador, an experience that continues to inform his commitment to global health and education.