AGA Diversity Committee member Dr. Ana Maldonado-Contreras recently published A healthy microbiome builds a strong immune system that could help defeat COVID-19, an editorial for The Conversation, a nonprofit independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good.

Dr. Maldonado-Contreras shares insights into her research — an important focus of which is figuring out how the beneficial bacteria populating our guts combat disease and infection. Her most recent work focuses on the link between a particular microbe and the severity of COVID-19 in patients. Her ultimate goal is to discover exactly how to enhance the gut microbiome through diet to evoke a stronger immune response, for not just SARS-CoV-2 but all pathogens.

Read the full editorial on The Conversation to learn more about her most recent work, which found that the composition of the gut microbiome is the strongest predictor of COVID-19 severity.

Dr. Maldonado-Contreras is a 2016 AGA Research Foundation Research Scholar Award recipient. AGA is proud to support her research, which is helping to define the connection between diet, the gut microbiome and overall health. Watch the video below to hear Dr. Maldonado-Contreras talk about her work.