David Relman

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David A. Relman
Institute of Medicine (2011)
Scientific career
FieldsMicrobiology
InstitutionsStanford University School of Medicine
Websiterelman.stanford.edu

David Arnold Relman is an American microbiologist and the Thomas C. and Joan M. Merigan Professor in Medicine, and in Microbiology & Immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. His research focuses on the human microbiome and microbial ecosystem—for which he was a pioneer in the use of modern molecular methods, as well as on pathogen discovery and the genomics of host response.[1]

Education

Relman was born in Boston, raised in Lexington, MA, and then moved to Philadelphia where he attended

postdoctoral fellow with Stanley Falkow at Stanford University. He began his independent career as a physician-scientist with a research focus in microbial pathogenesis and soon thereafter became interested in the discovery and identification of previously-unrecognized microbial pathogens. The problem of differentiating novel pathogens from normal microbiota, the diversity of the indigenous microbiota, and the relationship of the latter with human health and disease, formed the basis of his subsequent research career.[2]

Academic career

Relman joined the faculty at Stanford University in 1994 and has remained there since.

small subunit rRNA gene amplification methods for revealing novel microbial pathogens led to the identification of several important previously-uncharacterized human pathogens, including the agents of bacillary angiomatosis and of Whipple's disease. He was an early pioneer in the study of the human microbiome using these and other modern molecular methods, and published some of the first broad molecular surveys of the human oral and gut microbiota.[4][5] His current research seeks to elucidate the nature and basis of diversity, assembly,[6] stability and resilience[7][8] in the human microbial ecosystem, and their relationships with health and disease.[9][10] Relman became the Thomas C.
and Joan M. Merigan Professor at Stanford in 2009.

Relman served as the science co-director of the

Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Center for Innovation in Global Health. He serves as the Chief of Infectious Disease at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.[1][12] Relman has also served in a number of United States government advisory capacities, particularly on biosecurity issues.[1][13]

Relman was elected a fellow of the

Institute of Medicine (National Academy of Medicine) in 2011, and a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2022. He received the Pioneer Award (2006) and the Transformative Research Award (2013) from the National Institutes of Health. He has served as the president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America in 2012-13,[1][13] chair of the Forum on Microbial Threats at the National Academy of Medicine from 2007-2017, and a member of the Committee on Science, Technology and Law from 2012-2015 at the National Academies of Science (NAS). He is currently a member of the Intelligence Community Studies Board at NAS, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and the Defense Science Board
at the Department of Defense.

In 2019-20, Relman chaired a committee of the U.S.

RF energy ... appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases among those that the committee considered" but that "each possible cause remains speculative" and that "the report should not be viewed as conclusive".[14][15][16]

In 2020, Relman called for an objective, dispassionate, and transparent investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2,[17] noting that despite many strongly-worded opinions and assertions about the likelihood of various hypotheses, "the 'origin story' is missing many key details, including a plausible and suitably detailed recent evolutionary history of the virus, the identity and provenance of its most recent ancestors, and surprisingly, the place, time, and mechanism of transmission of the first human infection", and that natural and laboratory-associated "spillover" scenarios both remained plausible. He and colleagues in 2021 urged that greater clarity about the origins of the pandemic is necessary for anticipating the next pandemic and feasible.[18]

Personal life

Relman is the son of the late

New England Journal of Medicine.[19]

Relman was a long-time volunteer for the Rock Medicine program organized by the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics, and served as its Chief Medical Officer for about a decade 2006. In the 1990s he was featured on MTV for his work there,[20] and he served as MTV's medical correspondent from 1995 to 1997.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "David A. Relman". Stanford University School of Medicine. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  2. ^ Taubes, Gary (September 2009). "David Relman: Featured Scientist Interview". ScienceWatch. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  3. ^ "David Relman". Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  4. PMID 10588742
    .
  5. PMID 15831718
    .
  6. PMID 17594176
    .
  7. PMID 19018661
    .
  8. PMID 20847294
    .
  9. PMID 17943117
    .
  10. PMID 22674335
    .
  11. ^ "Center for International Security and Cooperation". Freeman Spogli Institute. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  12. ^ "IDSA: Career Paths in ID - Academic Medicine". Infectious Disease Society. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  13. ^ a b "David Relman". David Relman Lab. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  14. ^ Breslauer, Brenda; Dilanian, Ken; Lederman, Josh (December 5, 2020). "'Havana Syndrome' likely caused by pulsed microwave energy, government study finds". NBC News. Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  15. ^ "'Havana syndrome' likely caused by directed microwaves - US report". BBC News. December 6, 2020.
  16. ^ Consensus Study Report: An Assessment of Illness in U.S. Government Employees and Their Families at Overseas Embassies Archived December 9, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, Standing Committee to Advise the Department of State on Unexplained Health Effects on U.S. Government Employees and Their Families at Overseas Embassies, of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2020).
  17. PMID 33144498
    .
  18. S2CID 234487267
    .
  19. ^ Marquard, Bryan (17 June 2014). "Dr. Arnold Relman, 91; ex-N.E. Journal of Medicine editor". Boston Globe. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  20. ^ Moretti, M. Mindy (29 October 1995). "MTV Mega-Dose". The Washington Post. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  21. ^ "David A. Relman, M.D." Antimicrobe.org. Retrieved 24 August 2016.

External links

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