Dr. Gregor Reid is a Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Surgery at Western University, and the Endowed Chair in Human Microbiome and Probiotics at the Lawson Health Research Institute. Dr. Reid’s research interests include: Microbiome and probiotics, Women's health, Environmental influences on health, and genitourinary infections. Having been a pioneer of probiotic research and the study of microbes in the urogenital tract of women, his research has expanded to studies of the gut, breast, heart and use of probiotics to detoxify environmental pollutants. Dr. Reid’s research primarily focuses on beneficial microbes, and he is one of the world’s foremost experts on probiotics, (microorganisms proven to produce health benefits). To date, he has developed novel probiotic therapies used by several million people around the world. He has also held 28 patents, published over 536 peer-reviewed papers including in highly prestigious academic journals Science, JAMA, PNAS, PLoS One, Nature and Nature Reviews Microbiology; he has also given >600 talks in 54 countries, and has a Google Scholar H factor of 95 with over 31,500 citations.

Dr. Reid was instrumental in the establishment of Western Heads East (WHE), an experiential learning program based at Western university. His research and development efforts are extensively translated in in Africa, including through programs in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. The program was the first to introduce probiotic yogurt in Africa. The probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 donated by Dr. Reid and Chr Hansen of Denmark, is part of novel sachets created by Yoba-for-life, a Dutch not-for-profit foundation inspired by the WHE program. The sachets allow local people to ferment milk and other foods.

Dr. Reid’s goal of bringing the benefits of probiotic microbes to people around the world are certainly being achieved. This ranges from reducing urinary and vaginal infections in women and improving their quality of life, to promoting probiotics to save premature, ow-birth weight babies, and more recently to use probiotics to prevent colony collapse disorder in honey bees, and reduce human exposure to environmental pollutants including mercury, arsenic and pesticides.

 

Since chairing the United Nations - World Health Organization Expert Panel and Working Group on Probiotics in 2001-2, Dr. Reid has been recognized internationally. He was the President of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics, which is the leading organization on the science of these areas which commercially will soon reach $60 billion per annum. In 2010, he and Bob Gough received the AUCC Scotiabank Prize on behalf of Western University for the WHE program: the first time the university has been given this award for internationalization. That same year, Dr. Reid was the recipient of the Hellmuth Prize, the highest research honour conferred by The University of Western Ontario, then in 2019 he received the highest honour of Distinguished University Professor.

Other awards include the Distinguished Alumni Award presented by New Zealand’s leading institution, Massey University, an Honorary Doctorate in Biology from Orebro University in Sweden, appointment to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He received the RGE Murray Canadian Society of Microbiologists Career Award in 2018. Having helped acquire Canada’s largest ever donation for microbiology, a $7 million donation for his chair position, his status as a global leader was recognized by his election in 2016 to the  Royal Society of Canada, an honor bestowed upon Canada’s distinguished scholars, artists and scientists, since the establishment of the society as Canada’s National Academy in 1883.