Earl coordinated much of the Broad’s research in the Human Microbiome Project and now leads a team of computational biologists to develop and utilize an array of ‘omics analytical approaches to dissect bacterial and host contributions to several infectious diseases. She has organized and led dozens of local and international collaborations to bring genomic approaches to the study of tuberculosis, urinary tract infections, and hospital-acquired infections caused by the enterococci and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.