Paul Stamets, D.Sc. (Honaris causa), speaker, author, mycologist, medical researcher, and entrepreneur, is considered an intellectual and industry leader in fungi. He is the founder and owner of Fungi Perfecti, LLC (www.fungi.com), and Host Defense Mushrooms (www.hostdefense.com) supplement line.

Paul Stamets is the author of eight books. His latest book, published in June 2025, is Psilocybin Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitats. He named numerous new species of psilocybin mushrooms. In 2023, a new psilocybin mushroom species was named after him to honor his lifelong work: Psilocybe stametsii

He is an invention ambassador for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and was inducted into The Explorer’s Club in 2020. He has received numerous awards, including the National Mycologist Award (2013) from the North American Mycological Association (NAMA), the Gordon & Tina Wasson Award (2015) from the Mycological Society of America (MSA), The Disruptor Award from NextMed (2023), and the SynBioBeta Lifetime Achievement Award (2024).

In the latest Star Trek: Discovery series on CBS, the science officer is portrayed by an astromycologist, Lt. Commander Paul Stamets whose concepts became a central theme of this science fiction. He served as the primary guide to the mushroom documentary Fantastic Fungi, released in fall 2019 on Netflix achieving a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.