Renowned microbiologist Dr. Martin J. Blaser is the 61st Ashford Keynote Speaker (2023).
Dr. Blaser is the Director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine; the Henry Rutgers Chair of the Human Microbiome and a Professor at the Departments of Medicine and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
With over 742 publications (Pubmed search 02-2022) and hundreds of invited articles and chapters, Blaser has spearheaded the field of Human Microbiome is best known for his studies of Helicobacter pylori and its relationship with human diseases, and the global crisis of the disappearing microbes causing novel epidemics.
Blaser was elected as an officer of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, serving from 2004-2008, including a one-year term as president in 2006-2007. He has served the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute (2005–2010; Chair 2009–2010), and on the Advisory Board for Clinical Research (2009–2013; Chair 2012-2013). In 2011, he was elected into the National Academy of Medicine (formerly Institute of Medicine), recognizing professional achievement and commitment to service in medicine and health. In 2013, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In 2013, Blaser was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In 2014, he was the Kinyoun Lecturer at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at NIH, and received the Alexander Fleming Award for lifetime achievement from the Infectious Diseases Society of America
In 2015, he was selected to be on the list of the TIME 100 Most Influential People in the world.
He was appointed by President Obama as the Chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) for a term from 2015–2022, serving in the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations.
He is treasurer of the board of the Microbiota vault, a global non-profit initiative to conserve microbial diversity of our planet for future generations.
Blaser is the author of a book for general audiences and translated into 20 languages, Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues, about the degradation of internal microbial ecosystems of humans because of modern medical practices.
With his Ashford conference, he invites us into the human microbiome, the beautiful coexistence and symbiosis of human and microbial cells; and how the extinction of good protective bacteria is related to new plagues, such as obesity, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases calling the attention for microbial restoration as the only solution.
Resources:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gr50sj4AAAAJ&hl=es
https://cabm.rutgers.edu/person/martin-j-blaser