Today, the OpenBiome Foundation announced the unanimous election of its Board Leadership for a three-year term, effective immediately. The officers, representing a cross section of innovators – from the clinical, patient, technology and financial fields – will guide the Foundation in its mission to expand patient access to microbiome therapies and drive scientific discoveries that will shape the future of health.
March 23, 2026
What motivated you to study the microbiome in rural Paraguay?
Only recently were we able to decipher the Paraguayan gut microbiome — and that research was limited to urban populations in the Asunción metro area. Until then, no other work had been done with a Paraguayan population, meaning Paraguay was vastly underrepresented in microbiome studies. Since microbiomes can vary significantly across populations, the next logical step in my goal to put Paraguay on the microbiome map was to begin studying rural communities.