Dr. Dhurandhar appointed as the Helen DeVitt Jones Endowed Chair in Nutritional Sciences

Nikhil Dhurandhar, Ph.D. was recently appointed as the Helen DeVitt Jones Endowed Chair in Nutritional Sciences. According to Dr. Dhurandhar, The Helen DeVitt Jones Endowed Chair will promote additional research in nutrition that benefits the greater Lubbock area community.

"It provides means to conduct novel research that would provide a foundation for many< projects we have envisioned," Dr. Dhurandhar said. "One such example is the obesity treatment program that we have recently started at Tech Plaza, as our Nutrition and Metabolic Health Initiative."

Endowed in 2001, the Helen DeVitt Jones endowment is used to provide salary supplement, research assistants, research expenses, and travel expenses to support the chair holder. The Dean of Human Sciences determines the field of study whenever the endowed chair becomes vacant. The last chair holder was Debra Reed, Ph.D., a former nutrition professor and prominent researcher at Texas Tech University who had held the chair position since 2004.

"By leading nutrition and obesity-related research and translational projects that have practical benefit to the Lubbock community, I look forward to fulfilling the intention behind creating this endowment."