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, showing how mushrooms can help the health of people and the planet. His central premise is that habitats have immune systems, just like people, and mushrooms are cellular bridges between the two. He is the author of many books, including Mycelium Running.