Jack Gilbert

Professor Jack A Gilbert is currently Professor in Paediatrics and in Microbial Oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography  (University of California San Diego). He obtained his PhD from Nottingham University in 2002, after which he conducted post-doctoral research at Queens University, Canada and was a senior scientist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK. Prior to moving to California in 2019, Professor Gilbert also served as Group Leader for Microbial Ecology at Argonne National Laboratory, a Professor of Surgery, and the Director of The Microbiome Centre at University of Chicago – during which time he cofounded the Earth Microbiome Project and American Gut Project.

Professor Gilbert has authored more than 300 peer reviewed publications and book chapters on microbial ecology. He is the founding Editor in Chief of mSystems journal and in 2017 he co-authored “Dirt is Good” - a popular science guide to the microbiome and children’s health.

In 2014 he was recognized on Crain’s Business Chicago’s 40 Under 40 List. In 2015 he was listed as one of the 50 most influential scientists by Business Insider, and in the Brilliant Ten by Popular Scientist. In 2016 he won the Altemeier Prize from the Surgical Infection Society, and the WH Pierce Prize from the Society for Applied Microbiology for research excellence. In 2019 he was elected to the Philosophical Society of Washington.

Professor Gilbert is the newly elected Vice President of the Society for Applied Microbiology.