Manan Sharma

Dr. Manan Sharma is a Research Microbiologist and Lead Scientist at the Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory, part of the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His research focuses on pre-harvest produce safety issues and its intersection with environmental sustainability, including persistence of bacterial pathogens in water and manure- amended soils. His work has included investigating cost-effective methods to improve traditional and non-traditional sources of irrigation water, and recovery and detection methods targeting pathogens from irrigation water. He was awarded the International Association for Food Protection Maurice Weber Laboratorian Award in 2018, and is a Fellow of the International Association for Food Protection. He currently serves as the Vice-President of the International Association for Food Protection, the largest international scientific association for food safety professionals.

He received in B.S. degree in Microbiology and Cell Science from the University of Florida, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Food Science and Technology from the University of Georgia.