Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS)
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Dr. Karen Nelson is a Jamaican-born American Microbiologist, who is the current president of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI).She was educated at the University of the West Indies and earned a Ph.D. from Cornell University.
Dr. Nelson is noted for her research on Thermotoga Maritima at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) which resulted in the publication of the genome of that bacterium, and which demonstrated the existence of horizontal gene transfer.Dr. Nelson is also known for her work in human microbiome research. Her team published the first human microbiome study in 2006.
Dr. Nelson was appointed president of JCVI in 2012 after serving as the Director of its Rockville Campus since 2010. Her current research focuses on interactions between human microbiomes and various diseases.She has published more than 170 peer-reviewed papers in the field.Scientific American named Dr. Nelson as one of biotechnology's "leading lights" in its 2015 "The Worldview 100."
Dr. Nelson is one of the microbiologists featured in Intimate Strangers: Unseen Life on Earth and was also featured in an article in a magazine produced by Black Entertainment Television.
