Description

Interdisciplinary Medical and Health Seminars

The IMHS of May 2026 is co-organized by the Department of Public Health and Primary Care and the Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. Dr. Sue Ishaq is Associate Professor in Microbiome Studies at the University of Maine’s School of Food and Agriculture and currently serves as the At-Large Early Career Representative on the Board of Directors of the American Society for Microbiology.

Dr. Ishaq founded the Microbes and Social Equity working group in 2020, an international research community which examines, publicizes, and promotes research on the reciprocal impact of social inequality and microbiomes, both human and environmental. Over the years, her research has gone from wild animal gut microbiomes, to soils, to buildings, and back to the gut. Since 2019, her lab in Maine focuses on how interactions between diet, host anatomy and the immune system, and gut microbes can be harnessed to reduce inflammation. 

This talk will present her collaborative work on microbiomes and social equity, as well as the use of diet and gut microbiomes to reduce inflammation.