Bios Talk: Paul Turner - Leveraging Evolution: Thinking in the Development of Phage Therapy

Dr. Paul Turner is the Rachel Carson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) at Yale University, and faculty member in the Microbiology Graduate Program and in the School of Public Health at Yale School of Medicine. He obtained a BA in Biology (1988) from University of Rochester, a PhD in Microbial Evolution (1995) from Michigan State University, and did postdocs at National Institutes of Health, University of Valencia in Spain, and University of Maryland-College Park, before joining Yale in 2001. Turner previously served as Director of Graduate Studies and Departmental Chair of EEB, and as Yale’s Interim Dean of Science. He currently serves as Director of the Center for Phage Biology and Therapy at Yale and was director of Yale’s Quantitative Biology Institute. Dr. Turner studies evolutionary genetics of viruses, particularly dengue virus and other arthropod-borne viral pathogens, as well as phages (bacteria-specific viruses) that infect pathogenic bacteria. He researches the use of phages in biotechnology to solve human problems, especially phage therapy to treat antibiotic-resistant bacterial diseases. Dr. Turner’s service experience includes the National Science Foundation’s Bio Advisory Committee, and Governor for the American Academy of Microbiology and Councilor for the American Society for Virology. His honors include Fellowships in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, American Academy of Microbiology, and American Philosophical Society.