Dr. Yasmine Belkaid is a Distinguished Investigator at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda). She obtained her Ph.D. in 1996 from the Pasteur Institute in France. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda) on immune regulation during infection, she started her research program at the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation in Cincinnati. In 2005, she joined the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and was appointed Senior Scientist in 2008. Her laboratory explores fundamental mechanisms that regulate tissue homeostasis and host immune responses and uncovered key roles for the microbiota and dietary factors in the control of immunity and protection to pathogens. Dr. Belkaid also holds an appointment at the University of Pennsylvania and is the co-director of the trans-NIH Center for Human Immunology. She is the founder and Director of the NIAID Microbiome Program. Dr. Belkaid is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Medicine, and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences, the AAI-Thermo Fisher Meritorious Career Award, the Emil von Behring Prize, and the Sanofi – Institut Pasteur Award.