William Parker, PhD

Dr. Parker retired from Duke University after more than 27 years of research there. Dr. Parker is currently a visiting scholar at the University of North Carolina and CEO of WPLab, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit that conducts research and education on the causes of chronic inflammatory disease in high-income regions.

Best known for discovering the function of the human appendix, Dr. Parker studied biology and chemistry as an undergraduate student and went on to earn his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1992. He has been conducting scientific research since the 1980s and has published more than 140 peer-reviewed articles. He was the first to compare immune function in wild animals with their laboratory counterparts, and the first to conclude that changes in the “biota” (symbiotic organisms living within the human body) induced by modern society affect depression and anxiety.

Dr. Parker collaborates with scientists from around the world, including scientists in the pharmaceutical industry and in academia. His academic collaborations include faculty from the University of North Carolina, the University of Montreal, the Czech Academy of Sciences, the University of Groningen, Duke University, and the University of Colorado, Boulder.

His focus for the past two decades has been on factors that adversely affect immune function in high-income countries. These factors lay at the foundation of many health problems today, including allergic, autoimmune and neuropsychiatric conditions.