Paul Stamets

The central premise is that habitats have immune systems, just like people, and mushrooms are the cellular bridges between the two. Our close evolutionary relationship to fungi can be the basis for novel pairings that lead to greater sustainability and immune enhancement.

Paul’s philosophy is that BioDiversity is BioSecurity. He sees the ancient Old Growth forests of the Pacific Northwest as a resource of incalculable value, especially in terms of its fungal genome. A dedicated hiker and explorer, his passion is to preserve and protect as many ancestral strains of mushrooms as possible from these pristine woodlands. He funds research to save rare strains of mushrooms that dwell within the old growth forests. Currently he testing these rare strains at the NIH (National Institutes of Health/Virology).

“W​e are now fully engaged in the 6th Major Extinction (“6 X”) on planet Earth. Our biosphere is quickly changing, eroding the life support systems that have allowed humans to ascend. Unless we put into action policies and technologies that can cause a course correction in the very near future, species diversity will continue to plummet, with humans not only being the primary cause, but one of the victims. What can we do? Fungi, particularly mushrooms, offer some powerful, practical solutions, which can be put into practice now.”

Speaker Bio – Abbreviated.

Paul Stamets, D.Sc (Hon.), is the founder of Fungi Perfecti (www.fungi.com) and Host Defense Organic Mushrooms (www.hostdefense.com) , and has been a dedicated mycologist for over forty years. Over this time, he has discovered and coauthored new species of mushrooms, received nine patents, written six books and pioneered countless techniques in the field of edible and functional food mushroom cultivation. Two of his books, Growing Gourmet & Medicinal Mushrooms and The Mushroom Cultivator have been heralded as the ‘bibles’ of the mushroom industry. His latest book, Mycelium Running, How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World, has propelled his vision of using mushrooms to help save ecosystems and improve population health to the world stage.

Paul has received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to the science of medicinal mushrooms and ecology. His TED (2008) talk “How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World” has been rated in the top 10 of all TED talks, and viewed more than 2,600,000 times. His TEDMED (2011) introduced medicinal mushrooms to more than 800 physicians. Both TED and TEDMED talks have received

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99% positive reviews on youtube.com.

In January of 2014, Paul received the highly acclaimed NAMA (North American Mycological Association, www.namyco.org) award for expanding the field of mycology for both amateurs and professionals. In June of 2014, Paul was chosen as an Invention Ambassador by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS.org), the largest and most prestigious scientific organization in the world. This honor was in recognition of bridging scientific discovery, education and applications from scientists to the public for societal benefit.