Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon is a pioneering scientist widely recognized as the father of modern gut microbiome research who has maintained an uninterrupted academic career at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis since 1981. He currently holds the prestigious Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished University Professor title and serves as Director of the Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and raised in Connecticut, Gordon earned his Bachelor of Arts from Oberlin College in 1969 followed by his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Chicago in 1973. His clinical training in internal medicine and gastroenterology was completed at Washington University before undertaking postdoctoral research at the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Gordon's transformative research has established the genomic and metabolic foundations of human-microbial symbiosis, creating the scientific framework for the contemporary understanding of the human microbiome. His innovative experimental approaches using gnotobiotic mice and cross-cultural human studies have demonstrated that humans function as composite organisms comprising multiple species from all three domains of life and their associated viruses. His work has proven that variations in microbial ecology resulting from modern lifestyles significantly impact human physiology and health outcomes. Gordon's groundbreaking studies of gut microbiomes across healthy, obese, and malnourished populations have revealed previously unrecognized connections between microbial communities and nutritional status.
As a visionary leader in biomedical science, Gordon has mentored over 140 PhD and MD PhD students and postdoctoral fellows while establishing the first interdisciplinary center under Washington University's BioMed21 initiative. His leadership extended to directing the university's Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences from 1994 to 2003, shaping graduate education for an entire generation of scientists. In recognition of his paradigm-shifting contributions, he has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recently received the 2024 Mechthild Esser Nemmers Prize in Medical Science. His current research focuses on developing microbiota-directed complementary foods to address childhood undernutrition, demonstrating the practical application of his discoveries to solve critical global health challenges.
