Paul Stamets, speaker, author, mycologist, medical researcher and entrepreneur, is considered an intellectual and industry leader in fungi: habitat, medicinal use, and production. He lectures extensively to deepen the understanding and respect for the organisms that literally exist under every footstep taken on this path of life. His presentations cover a range of mushroom species and research showing how mushrooms can help the health of people and planet. His central premise is that habitats have immune systems, just like people, and mushrooms are cellular bridges between the two. Our close evolutionary relationship to fungi can be the basis for novel pairings in the microbiome that lead to greater sustainability and immune enhancement.

He has delivered a TED talk, "Paul Stamets on 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World" (2008), and a TEDMED talk, "Is the world ready for a Medical Mushroom Mystery Tour?" (2011).

On June 30, 2012, he received an honorary Doctorate of Science (D.Sc.) degree from the National College of Natural Medicine, Portland, Oregon and in January 2014, he received an award for "Contributions to Amateur Mycology" from the North American Mycological Association.

On June 10, 2014, Stamets was honored as an Invention Ambassador by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and on July 15, 2015, Stamets became the first-ever recipient of the Mycological Society of America's Gordon and Tina Wasson Award. Named after the late ethnomycologists, the award is intended "to recognize people with non-traditional academic backgrounds who have made outstanding contributions to the field of mycology, or who have widely transmitted significant scientific or aesthetic knowledge about fungi to the general public."

Paul’s philosophy is that “MycoDiversity 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. His research is considered breakthrough by thought leaders for creating a paradigm shift for helping ecosystems worldwide.

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