Arlette Darfeuille-Michaud: Researcher, Lecturer, Leader, Mentor, and Friend

It is with profound sadness that we note the loss, at age 59, of our dear friend and mentor Dr Arlette Darfeuille-Michaud on June 28, 2014, following a 15-month battle against cancer. Arlette was a Professor at Auvergne University, and director of an INSERM unit that investigates microbial-host interactions in intestinal inflammation, located in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Arlette advanced our understanding of intestinal diseases, and humanity in general, via pioneering research in gut microbiology, visionary leadership, energetic teaching, and exceptionally supportive mentorship.⇓

Arlette lived her early years in the tiny French village of Beyssenac (in the beautiful Corrèze region) where her family owned and operated a fruit orchard. Arlette earned her PhD in 1987 at Auvergne University in the lab of Dr Bernard Joly, studying Klebsiella pneumoniae strains involved in nosocomial infections and Escherichia coli pathogenesis. Arlette then joined the faculty at Auvergne University as a lecturer in 1989, and then was promoted to professor in microbiology and molecular biology in 1994. Arlette then initiated a line of experimentation that would ultimately help contribute to our understanding of the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Briefly, working with gastroenterologist Dr Jean-Frédéric Colombel and Dr Christel Neut, Arlette made the discovery, reported in Gastroenterology in 1998, that many ileal samples of Crohn's patients were colonized by a previously unappreciated class of E. coli strains. As Dr Colombel recently recalled.

“Arlette called us, very excited and enthusiastic, exclaiming that she had discovered …