ISAPP Board Welcomes New President, Prof. Maria Marco PhD
At the ISAPP 2024 annual meeting in July, the ISAPP board of directors ushered in the beginning of the next leadership term, with the role of President being taken on by Prof. Maria Marco PhD from UC Davis (USA). Prof. Marco had served the previous three years as Vice President while Prof. Dan Merenstein MD served as President.
“Maria is a born leader, who has continued to push the board and me to think about what we want from ISAPP,” says Prof. Merenstein. “I’m excited to see where she helps take us in the next three years.”
Prof. Marco leads a lab at UC Davis that focuses on the role of microorganisms, and particularly lactic acid bacteria, in food microbiomes and gut health. The lab’s objectives are to investigate how probiotics alter intestinal function and to improve diets with foods that rely on microorganisms either during production (such as fermented foods) or within the digestive tract (such as dietary fibers). Meanwhile, Prof. Marco is also involved in many outreach activities to spread awareness about fermented foods and health. See one of her recent interviews about fermented foods here.
Prof. Marco has more than 120 publications to her name, and has mentored over 100 students, postdocs, and visiting scientists in her lab. In addition to being President of the ISAPP board of directors, she serves on numerous advisory and editorial boards.
The entire ISAPP board of directors welcomes Prof. Marco into the President role with full confidence that her leadership will help advance the fields of biotics and fermented foods.
Prof. Marco says, “I am so honored for this opportunity to lead the ISAPP board of directors. I have regarded ISAPP as the leading voice in probiotics and prebiotics research since starting in this field over 20 years ago. With our outstanding board and leadership team, we have tremendous momentum to continue to build ISAPP for advancing biotic science.”
