Rate My Professor Jacques Ravel

Jacques Ravel, PhD, is the John L. Whitehurst Professor of Medicine and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, part of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. He serves as Director of the Center for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation (CAMRI) at the Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS), Associate Director for Genomics at IGS since 2010, and Acting Director of IGS from 2022 to 2025. Additionally, he holds the position of Assistant Dean for Research Advancement. Ravel earned a B.Sc. in Biology and Chemistry in 1990 and an M.Sc. in Microbiology in 1992 from the University of Nancy I, France, followed by a Ph.D. in Microbial Ecology from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1999. He completed postdoctoral training as a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University from 1999 to 2002. Before joining the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 2007 as Associate Professor (promoted to Professor in 2012), he was an Assistant Investigator at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, Maryland, from 2002 to 2007, where the first microbial genome was sequenced in 1995.

Ravel's research program applies genomics technologies, ecological principles, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, multi-omics, and bioinformatics to characterize the human microbiome, with a focus on the vaginal microbiome's dynamics and role in women's health, bacterial vaginosis, sexually transmitted infections such as Chlamydia trachomatis and HPV, and adverse pregnancy outcomes like spontaneous preterm delivery. He leads NIH-funded initiatives, including the Collaborative Research Center developing 3D biomimetic cervicovaginal models for studying sexually transmitted infections. Ravel co-founded LUCA Biologics in 2019 to develop live biotherapeutics targeting the vaginal microbiome. His honors include election to the American Academy of Microbiology in 2012 and the Blaise Pascal International Research Chair in 2015 at the Institut Pasteur. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Microbiome and Associate Editor of mBio. Key publications include 'Vaginal microbiome of reproductive-age women' (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 2011), 'Temporal dynamics of the vaginal microbiota' (Science Translational Medicine, 2012), 'Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome' (Nature, 2012), 'Cervicovaginal microbiota and local immune response modulate the risk of spontaneous preterm delivery' (Nature Communications, 2019), and 'Impact of a multi-strain L. crispatus-based vaginal synbiotic on the vaginal microbiome' (NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes, 2025). With over 300 peer-reviewed publications, Ravel has significantly advanced translational microbiome science.