David A. Relman

Clinical Focus

• Infectious Disease

Administrative Appointments

• President-Elect, Infectious Diseases Society of America (2011 - 2012)
• Affiliated Faculty, Center for Security and Cooperation, Stanford University (2011 - present)
• Forum on Microbial Threats, Chair (2007-), Institute of Medicine, NAS (2005 - present)
• National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2005 - present)
• Chief, Infectious Diseases, VA Palo Alto Health Care System (2002 - present)

Honors and Awards

• Member, Institute of Medicine, National Academies of Science (2011-)
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2010)
• Thomas C. and Joan M. Merigan Professor, Stanford University (2009-)
• Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (2006)
• NIH Director's Pioneer Award, NIH (2006)

Professional Education

Postdoctoral Advisees

Elizabeth Costello,  Jennifer Dinalo,  Suenje Pamp,  Noga Qvit Raz,  Fiona Strouts,  Alexandra Switzer

Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations

• Medicine
• Microbiology and Immunology

Community and International Work

• Chief Medical Officer, Rock Medicine, Haight-Ashbury Medical Clinics 

Internet Links

• http://relman.stanford.edu

Industry Relationships

Stanford is committed to ethical and transparent interactions with our industrial and other commercial partners. It is our policy to disclose payments (exclusive of travel support) from, and/or equity in, companies or other commercial entities to Stanford faculty of $5,000 or more in total value, as well as any equity in a privately held company, when the faculty member also has institutional responsibilities related to his or her interactions with the company. View Full Information

Current Research Interests

My primary research focus is the human indigenous microbiota (microbiome), and in particular, the nature and mechanisms of variation in patterns of microbial diversity within the human body as a function of time (microbial succession), space (biogeography within the host landscape), and in response to perturbation, e.g., antibiotics (community robustness and resilience). One of the goals of this work is to define the role of the human microbiome in health and disease. We are particularly interested in measuring and understanding resilience in the human microbial ecosystem. Our work includes the human oral cavity, gut, and female reproductive tract, as well as an analysis of microbial diversity in marine mammals. This research integrates theory and methods from ecology, population biology, environmental microbiology, genomics and clinical medicine.

During the past few decades, my research directions have also included pathogen discovery and the development of new strategies for identifying previously-unrecognized microbial agents of disease. This work has included the use of host gene expression response patterns to recognize and understand early stages of systemic infection. Currently, we are examining genomic patterns of host response in dengue fever and in cases of undiagnosed febrile illness, for diagnostic and prognostic purposes, as well as to understand better disease mechanism.

Publications

• Adaptations of Avian Flu Virus Are a Cause for Concern. Berns KI, Casadevall A, Cohen ML, Ehrlich SA, Enquist LW, Fitch JP, Franz DR, Fraser-Liggett CM, Grant CM, Imperiale MJ, Kanabrocki J, Keim PS, Lemon SM, Levy SB, Lumpkin JR, Miller JF, Murch R, Nance ME, Osterholm MT, Relman DA, Roth JA, Vidaver AK. Science. 2012
• Comparisons of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and viromes in human saliva reveal bacterial adaptations to salivary viruses. Pride DT, Salzman J, Relman DA. Environ Microbiol. 2012
• Comparisons of distance methods for combining covariates and abundances in microbiome studies. Fukuyama J, McMurdie PJ, Dethlefsen L, Relman DA, Holmes S. Pac Symp Biocomput. 2012: 213-24
• Creating a Mammalian Transmissible A/H5N1 Influenza Virus: Social Contracts, Prudence, and Alternative Perspectives. Osterholm MT, Relman DA. J Infect Dis. 2012
• Policy: Adaptations of avian flu virus are a cause for concern. Berns KI, Casadevall A, Cohen ML, Ehrlich SA, Enquist LW, Fitch JP, Franz DR, Fraser-Liggett CM, Grant CM, Imperiale MJ, Kanabrocki J, Keim PS, Lemon SM, Levy SB, Lumpkin JR, Miller JF, Murch R, Nance ME, Osterholm MT, Relman DA, Roth JA, Vidaver AK. Nature. 2012