Speaker Schedule
Friday, July 23
Auditorium – 4:00pm – A Hypothesis That Won’t Go Away: Does Lipotoxicity Contribute to Myopathy in FAODs
About the Speaker
Dr. Adams is Professor and Vice Chair for Basic Research in the UC Davis Department of Surgery. He also serves as the founding Scientific Director of the Center for Alimentary and Metabolic Science (CAMS), a research group established to promote cutting edge science that is relevant to
human health and clinical care.
Prior to joining UC Davis, Dr. Adams was Professor and Chief of the Developmental Nutrition Section in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He served as Director of the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center (ACNC). ACNC is one of six national USDA-funded human nutrition research centers and has a mission to understand how maternal-child nutrition and physical activity optimize health and development.
Formerly, Dr. Adams was the Research Leader for the Obesity and Metabolism Research Unit at the USDA-ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center, an Adjunct Associate Professor in Nutrition at UC Davis, and before that a researcher at pharmaceutical companies Genentech, Novartis, and Amylin. In leadership positions since 2008, he has overseen research programs totaling ~$60M. His personal research has focused on identifying the molecular underpinnings of metabolic health, leveraging tools such as metabolomics and xenometabolomics (“non-self” metabolites from gut microbes). His lab studies also studies muscle lipotoxicity, metabolite-associated inflammation, exercise physiology and the role of myoglobin in fat metabolism.
Dr. Adams has authored over 120 peer-reviewed scientific papers, is Associate Editor for Advances in Nutrition, and a member of the National Institutes of Health Nutrition and Metabolism in Health and Diseases Study Section. He has given over 80 invited talks in the U.S. and abroad. His academic training includes degrees from Cal State University Fresno (Biology), UC Santa Cruz (Marine Sciences), and the University of Illinois (Nutritional Sciences), followed by postdoctoral fellowships in Barcelona, Spain and UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
When he isn’t doing research, he and his wife Sharon like to spend as much time as possible exploring the great outdoors and traveling. Their son Connor is a graduate student at UC Santa Cruz; his brother Nathan is a member of the Colorado Air National Guard.