Dr. Karen E. Nelson is the Chief Scientific Officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific. Prior to that she was the President of the not-for-profit Research Institute the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), where she held several positions of increasing responsibility over the years. Dr. Nelson received her undergraduate degree from the University of the West Indies, and her Ph.D. from Cornell University. She has authored or co-authored over 230 peer reviewed publications, edited three books, and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the journal Microbial Ecology. She has served on the Editorial Boards of PNAS Nexus, BMC Genomics, GigaScience, and the Central European Journal of Biology. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, an Honorary Professor at the University of the West Indies and a Helmholtz International Fellow. Dr. Nelson is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Dr. Nelson has led several genomic and metagenomic efforts, including the first human metagenomics study that was published in 2006, and studies of the ecology of the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals. In her current role she oversees the R&D operations of Thermo Fisher.