Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics

Dylan George, PhD, is the Director for the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics (CFA) at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CFA is building world class data and analytics capabilities to guide interventions in public health emergencies and pandemics.

Before joining CDC, Dr. George was a vice president at Ginkgo Bioworks, where he helped develop improved real-time infectious disease monitoring capabilities and analytics for pandemic response. Before Ginkgo, Dr. George was a vice president at In-Q-Tel (IQT), where he vetted life science, healthcare deals, and developed science and technical strategy to strengthen capacity within the United States to counter biological threats from infectious disease.

Recently, Dr. George served on the Biden-Harris transition team working on national security policy for the COVID-19 response, and on the agency review team for the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. George served Dr. John Holdren, assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), as senior policy advisor for biological threat defense. Among other responsibilities at OSTP, Dr. George provided technical expertise and interagency coordination supporting the response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. During 2013–2014, Dr. George worked in the Department of Health and Human Services within the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, where he led a team that developed analytical approaches to assess risks from emerging infectious diseases and other mass casualty events. During 2009–2013, Dr. George worked within the Department of Defense on anticipating and assessing infectious disease risks that would affect mission readiness and force health protection. Dr. George worked at the National Science Foundation within the divisions of Biological Infrastructure and Environmental Biology. While at the National Science Foundation, Dr. George also supported the National Ecological Observatory Network and the Ecology of Infectious Diseases program.

Dr. George received his PhD from Colorado State University and focused on quantitative analytical approaches for considering how clinically severe pathogens (e.g., Yersinia pestis, rabies) persist within wildlife populations.