Emeran A. Mayer is a Gastroenterologist, Neuroscientist, and Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He also holds the title of Executive Director of the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress & Resilience, Co-Director of the UCLA Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) on Sex Differences, and Founding Director of the Goodman Luskin Microbiome Center at UCLA. He has published 430 scientific papers, co-edited three books, and has an h-index of 133. He published the best-selling books, The Mind Gut Connection, in 2016, The Gut Immune Connection, in June 2021, and the recipe book, Interconnected Plates, in 2023. He has recently produced a documentary film for PBS on the mind-gut immune connection and is featured in a piece by MasterClass.com on the same topic.
In addition to his academic interests, Mayer has a longstanding interest in ancient healing traditions and affords them a level of respect rarely found in Western Medicine. He has been involved in documentary film productions about the Yanomami people in the Orinoco region of Venezuela, and the Asmat people in Irian Jaya. He is a strong believer in Buddhist philosophy, a member of the UCLA Zen Center for several years, and has married in a Tibetan monastery by Choekyi Nyima Rinpoche in Kathmandu. He regularly pursues meditative practices.
He has spoken at UCLA TEDx on the mysterious origins of gut feelings in 2015. He has been interviewed on National Public Radio, PBS, and by many national and international media outlets including the Los Angeles and New York Times, the Atlantic, and Time magazine. He has appeared on numerous podcasts, including Lewis Howes’ The School of Greatness, Tom Bilyeu’s Impact Theory, and Mark Hyman’s The Doctor’s Pharmacy.
