David A. Relman

Clinical Focus

• Infectious Disease
• Infectious Diseases

Administrative Appointments

• Forum on Microbial Threats, Chair (2007-), Institute of Medicine, NAS (2005 - present)
• Physical and Life Sciences Directorate Review Committee, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2006 - 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)
• Chair, Administrative Panel on Biosafety, Stanford University (2001 - present)
View All 6administrative appointments of David Relman

Honors and Awards

• 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)
• Kinyoun Lecturer, NIAID/NIH (2005)
• Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology (2003)

Professional Education

Postdoctoral Advisees

Elizabeth Costello, Leslie Dethlefsen, Jennifer Dinalo, Eoghan Harrington, Muhammad Khan, Clara Long, Suenje Pamp, David Pride, Noga Qvit Raz, Joanna Schaenman

Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations

• Medicine
• Microbiology and Immunology

Community & International Work

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

Web Site Links

• http://relman.stanford.edu

Industry Relationships

Stanford is committed to ethical and transparent interactions with our industry partners. It is our policy to disclose payments of $5,000 or more, equity valued at $5,000 or more in a publicly traded company, or any equity in a privately held company, to physicians and scientists employed by Stanford University from companies or other commercial entities with which they interact as part of their professional activities. View Full Information

Research Interests

My investigative program focuses on human-microbe interactions and human microbial ecology, and is divided into two research areas:
1) Ecology of human indigenous microbial communities;
2) Classification of humans and non-human primates with systemic infectious diseases, based on features of genome-wide gene transcript abundance patterns.

Projects in these areas include the following:

1) Ecology of human indigenous microbial communities
• Molecular ecology of human oral cavity, including health and disease (chronic periodontitis)
• Molecular ecology of human intestinal tract, including health and disease (inflammatory bowel disease)
• Microbes associated with pre-term labor and delivery
• Patterns of bacterial diversity in marine mammals

2) Classification of humans and non-human primates with systemic infectious diseases, based on features of genome-wide gene transcript abundance patterns
• Classification of patients with fever and systemic infection, based on causative agent and clinical course
• Host response patterns to malaria and dengue fever
• Patterns of host transcript abundance in smallpox, monkeypox, and filovirus infections

Publications

• Natural-host animal models indicate functional interchangeability between the filamentous haemagglutinins of Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella bronchiseptica and reveal a role for the mature C-terminal domain, but not the RGD motif, during infection. Julio SM, Inatsuka CS, Mazar J, Dieterich C, Relman DA, Cotter PA. Mol Microbiol. 2009; 71 (6): 1574-90
• Majority rules? Tallying the microbial census in an abscess by means of molecular methods. Digiulio DB, Relman DA. Clin Infect Dis. 2009; 48 (9): 1179-81
• Gene transcript abundance profiles distinguish Kawasaki disease from adenovirus infection. Popper SJ, Watson VE, Shimizu C, Kanegaye JT, Burns JC, Relman DA. J Infect Dis. 2009; 200 (4): 657-66
• Cross-talk in the gut. Dinalo JE, Relman DA. Genome Biol. 2009; 10 (1): 203
• Comparative analysis of viral gene expression programs during poxvirus infection: a transcriptional map of the vaccinia and monkeypox genomes. Rubins KH, Hensley LE, Bell GW, Wang C, Lefkowitz EJ, Brown PO, Relman DA. PLoS One. 2008; 3 (7): e2628