Pranav Pandit, BVSc & AH, MPVM, PhD
Assistant Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology
Department of Population Health and Reproduction | School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis
📩 epipandit@ucdavis.edu | 🌐 Google Scholar
The EpiPandit lab utilizes data science to predict and prevent pandemic threats. Our work spans:
- Infectious Disease Epidemiology: Spillover dynamics at the animal-human interface and the impact of climate change.
- Interpretable Machine Learning: Developing mathematical models and diagnostic validation tools for population health.
- One Health Surveillance: Global health research focusing on emerging viral threats in low- and middle-income countries.
WildAlert
A Wildlife Morbidity and Mortality Event Alert System.\
The system contains integrated data entered in near real-time from a network of wildlife rehabilitation organizations across the United States. Use the dashboard to set up queries to visualize and receive notifications on wildlife morbidity and mortality events.
AtlasArena
AtlasArena is a Wellcome Trust-funded research project that aims to create and deploy climate-driven spatio-temporal disease ecology models that predict the risk of infections to humans from new world Arenaviruses. The platform uses Species Distribution Models (SDMs) to predict the geographical distribution of rodent reservoirs for zoonotic New World Arenaviruses, leveraging occurrence data, bioclimatic, vegetation, and land use datasets.
Courses instructed at the University of California, Davis:
- MPM 204: Applied Vet Population Statistics
- EPI 205 / MPM 205: Principles of Epidemiology
- MPM 100: Intro to Information Management for Epidemiologists
- VET 414: Population Health
Our research on spillover risk and AI applications has received extensive global coverage:
- The New York Times: Which Animal Viruses Could Infect People? Computers Are Racing to Find Out
- Wired Magazine: This AI Helps Detect Wildlife Health Issues in Real Time
- National Geographic: Viral Spillover Feature (July 2021)
- CapRadio Podcast: Insight With Vicki Gonzalez: UC Davis Virus Spillover Tool
- World Organization for Animal Health: Conversation on AI and Animal Health
- Hindustan Times: Deforestation and exploitation of wildlife lead to pandemics
- Geographical Magazine: Predicting the unidentified carriers of Zika, Dengue and Yellow Fever
- Earth Journalism Network: Webinar on detecting and preventing pandemic-potential viruses
For collaborations or research inquiries, please reach out via email.
Last Updated: 2026