Physician to Discuss Microbes as the Link Between Soil, Gut, and Health

Event Information

Time: 11 a.m.
Date: Thursday, April 4
Place: Room 101, Rosenfield Center, 1115 Eighth Ave., Grinnell

“Microbes, the Link Between Soil, Gut, and Health” is the title of the April 4 Scholars’ Convocation Lecture to be presented by Dr. Emeran Mayer, a gastroenterologist, neuroscientist, and professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. The event is free and open to the public.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Emeran Mayer received his M.D./Ph.D. degree from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. He completed his residency at the Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver, Canada, and his GI fellowship training at the UCLA/VA Wadsworth Training Program.

Mayer is a gastroenterologist, neuroscientist, and professor in the Departments of Medicine, Physiology and Psychiatry at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. He also serves as executive director of the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience and as co-director of the CURE: Digestive Diseases Research Center at UCLA.

He has a career-long interest in clinical and research aspects of brain-body interactions, with a longstanding focus on the bidirectional communication between the brain and the gut in health and disease. He is recognized as one of the leading investigators in the world of brain-gut microbiome interactions in GI disorders, including functional and inflammatory bowel disorders, and obesity. His research has received continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1989.

Mayer has given interviews to National Public Radio, PBS, and many other national and international media outlets including The Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic magazine,  and Time magazine. He spoke at UCLA TEDx on “The Mysterious Origins of Gut Feelings” in 2015. He also is the author of The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health. The book, published by HarperCollins in 2016, has been translated into 12 languages.