Professor Philip D. Marsh is New Associate Editor of Journal of Oral Microbiology

P hilip D. Marsh is Professor of Oral Microbiology at the School of Dentistry, University of Leeds, UK, and is Programme Leader for the TB & Public Health Microbiology group at Public Health England, Salisbury, UK. He has published over 240 research papers and review articles, and is co-author of a leading text book on oral microbiology. He was the recipient of the ORCA-Rolex Award for Caries Research in 1991, the IADR Distinguished Science Award (Research in Dental Caries) in 1998, the Society for General Microbiology (UK) Colworth Prize Lecture Award for applied microbiology research in 2001, and he received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 from the World Congress of Minimally Invasive Dentistry. His research interests include dental biofilms and oral microbial ecology, especially the influence of environmental factors on the composition and activity of the oral microbiota. This interaction is fundamental to understand whether the relationship between the oral microbiota and the host will result in health (symbiosis) or disease (dysbiosis); these concepts are encapsulated in the ‘ecological plaque hypothesis’. He is interested in how oral care products can prevent disease while preserving the important beneficial functions of the resident oral microbiota. He also leads a team involved with research on more effective antibiotics and vaccines against tuberculosis. I welcome Professor Philip D. Marsh as the new Associate Editor of Journal of Oral Microbiology. He replaces Professor Mogens Kilian who has been Associate Editor from the start of the journal in 2009. Kilian retired from the job as Professor of Microbiology on 1 October 2014 and has accepted a new commitment which will take all of his time in the future. I thank him for all his support and help to the journal during all these years and wish him the very best in his new role.