Phillip I. Tarr

Dr. Phillip Tarr is the Melvin E. Carnahan Professor of Pediatrics, and Director of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition in the Department of Pediatrics and the St. Louis Children’s Hospital, as well as the Melvin E. Carnahan Professor of Pediatrics, and Professor of Molecular Microbiology at the Washington University School of Medicine.

Dr. Tarr obtained an undergraduate degree in biology from Brown University in 1975 in biology and an MD from Yale University in 1980. He then completed a residency in pediatrics at the University of Washington in Seattle, before pursuing research and advanced clinical training in infectious diseases, gastroenterology, and molecular microbiology. Dr. Tarr was on the faculty of the University of Washington in Seattle until 2003 when he assumed his present position at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine.

Dr. Tarr’s early research was directed toward gut infections caused by Escherichia coli O157:H7, and how intestinal infections with this pathogen leads to the hemolytic uremic syndrome, an important cause of kidney injury in children throughout the world. More recently, his work has focused on the childhood microbiome, and the effects of gut microbes on intestinal function, including gut permeability. His laboratory has been continuously supported since the early 1990’s by the NIAID, NIDDK, CDC, USDA, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.