David Relman

David A. Relman is the Thomas C. and Joan M. Merigan Professor in Medicine, and a Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Stanford University, and Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. He is also Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and served as science Co-Director at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (2013-2017), at Stanford. He is currently director of a new Biosecurity Initiative at FSI and a member of the Faculty Governance Committee for the Stanford Integrative Hub on Ethics, Society and Technology. Relman trained at MIT and then Harvard Medical School, followed by clinical training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and then a postdoctoral fellowship in microbiology at Stanford. 

Relman was an early pioneer in the modern study of the human indigenous microbiota (microbiome). His current research work focuses on assembly, diversity, stability and resilience of human microbial communities. Previous work included pathogen discovery, and bacterial pathogenesis. Among policy-relevant activities in biological security and ethics, Relman served as vice-chair of the National Research Council Committee that reviewed the science performed for the FBI 2001 Anthrax Letters investigation, chair of the Forum on Microbial Threats (2007-2017), a member of the Committee on Science, Technology & Law (2012-2015), and currently serves on the Intelligence Community Studies Board, all at the U.S. National Academies of Science. He was a founding member of the National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity (2005-2014), Chair of the Task Force on Conflicts of Interest for the Infectious Diseases Society of America (2016-2017), and President of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (2012-2013). He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2011.