Heidi H. Kong, M.D., M.H.Sc

Senior Investigator

Cutaneous Microbiome and Inflammation Section

NIAMS

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Building 10, Room 12N240D
10 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20814

301-827-2460

konghe@mail.nih.gov

Research Topics

Dr. Heidi Kong has dedicated her research to investigating the skin microbes in patients with inflammatory skin diseases and in healthy individuals. Her translational studies are based on clinical questions related to the skin microbiome in atopic dermatitis and immunodeficiency. Dr. Kong's work has advanced our understanding of the microbial communities of human skin. She combines translational research expertise with advanced genomic technologies to study skin microbes in order to gain insights into the pathogenesis of skin diseases and to potentially identify therapeutics for patients. Dr. Kong has active clinical studies for healthy volunteers and patients with eczema.

Biography

Heidi H. Kong is a board-certified Dermatologist and currently directs a translational research program studying the human microbiome and inflammatory skin diseases. After training in Dermatology at Duke University, she completed a clinical research fellowship in the Dermatology Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, and the Duke-NIH Master's Program in Clinical Research. Dr. Kong is an attending physician on the NIH Dermatology Consultation Service and an Adjunct Investigator at the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research. She is the Deputy Clinical Director, a Senior Investigator, and Head of the Cutaneous Microbiome and Inflammation Section at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

Selected Publications

  1. Che Y, Han J, Harkins CP, Hou P, Conlan S, Deming C, Amirkhani A, Bingham MA, Holmes CJ, Englander H, Shen Z, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, Castelo-Soccio L, Dimitrova D, Kanakry JA, Bergerson JRE, Notarangelo LD, Pittaluga S, Zhao C, Dell'Orso S, Pai SY, Hickstein DD, Holland SM, Brownell I, Nagao K, Gonzalez CE, Shah NN, Freeman AF, Su HC, Segre JA, Kong HH. Restoration of the human skin microbiome following immune recovery after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Cell Host Microbe. 2025;33(8):1412-1427.e5.
  2. Er YX, Lee SC, Aneke C, Conlan S, Muslim A, Deming C, Che Y, Yap NJ, Tee MZ, Abdull-Majid N, Shahrizal S, Leong KF, Han J, Shen Z, Than LTL, Park M, Mohd Sayed I, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, Seyedmousavi A, Kong HH, Loke P, Segre JA, Lim YAL. Trichophyton concentricum fungal infections and skin microbiomes of Indigenous Peninsular Malaysians. Cell. 2025;188(16):4257-4274.e13.
  3. Saheb Kashaf S, Harkins CP, Deming C, Joglekar P, Conlan S, Holmes CJ, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, Almeida A, Finn RD, Segre JA, Kong HH. Staphylococcal diversity in atopic dermatitis from an individual to a global scale. Cell Host Microbe. 2023;31(4):578-592.e6.
  4. Jo JH, Harkins CP, Schwardt NH, Portillo JA, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, Zimmerman MD, Carter CL, Hossen MA, Peer CJ, Polley EC, Dartois V, Figg WD, Moutsopoulos NM, Segre JA, Kong HH. Alterations of human skin microbiome and expansion of antimicrobial resistance after systemic antibiotics. Sci Transl Med. 2021;13(625):eabd8077.
  5. Oh J, Byrd AL, Park M, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, Kong HH, Segre JA. Temporal Stability of the Human Skin Microbiome. Cell. 2016;165(4):854-66.

Related Scientific Focus Areas

This page was last updated on Thursday, September 10, 2026