Jeffrey I. Gordon MD

Jeffrey I. Gordon, born in 1947, is the Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished University Professor and Director of the Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. He is internationally known for his research on gastrointestinal development and how gut microbial communities affect normal intestinal function, shape various aspects of human physiology including our nutritional status and affect predisposition to diseases. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

Jeffrey Gordon received his bachelor’s degree in biology in 1969 at Oberlin College in Ohio. Over the next four years, he received his medical training at the University of Chicago where he graduated with honors in 1973. After two years as an intern and junior assistant resident in Medicine at Barnes Hospital, St. Louis, Jeffrey Gordon joined the Laboratory of Biochemistry at the National Cancer Institute as a Research Associate in 1975. He returned to Barnes Hospital in 1978 to become Senior Assistant Resident, completed a fellowship in Gastroenterology, and then joined the faculty where he rose quickly through the academic ranks: Assistant Professor (1981-1984); Associate Professor (1985-1987); Professor (1987-1991) of Medicine and Biological Chemistry. In 1991, he became head of the Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology (1991-2004). Jeffrey Gordon is currently the founding Director of the University’s Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology (2004-present).