Helen Devitt Jones Endowed Chair

Room: HS 402D

President, The Obesity Society (2014-15)

Dr. Nikhil V. Dhurandhar, is a professor, Helen Devitt Jones Endowed Chair, and Chair of the department of Nutritional Sciences at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA. Previously, he was the John Henry Hernandez endowed Professor in Health Promotion at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center of Louisiana State University, LA, and the William Hardy Endowed Chair in Obesity Research at Wayne State University, MI.  During 2014-2015, he was president of The Obesity Society, which is the premier professional organization representing Canada, United States and Mexico.  He is Editor-In-Chief of the International Journal of Obesity. As a physician and nutritional biochemist, he has been involved with obesity treatment and research for 38 years and has treated over 15,000 patients for obesity using lifestyle therapy as well as medication.  His book, “Dr. Dhurandhar's Fat Loss Diet” was #1 Best Seller on Amazon India, and the Times of India listed it as one of the 10 most dependable books on weight loss published in 2018. 

Dr. Dhurandhar received the 2015 Osborne and Mendel award from the American Society for Nutrition given for “outstanding recent basic research accomplishments in nutrition”, the 2017 Bluebonnet Award from the Texas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to recognize an individual who is not a dietitian, but who has contributed significantly to the advancement of nutrition and dietetics in Texas, a joint award from the American Society for Nutrition and the Korean Nutrition Society (2017) in recognition of outstanding research in nutrition science and practice, and the 2018 Barnie Rushing Jr. Faculty Distinguished Research Award from Texas Tech University.

Dr. Dhurandhar has received over $8 Million as grants and endowments for research, plus, about $4 Million in grants as a co-investigator from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation and other non-profit or commercial funding sources. He has received 49 US and international patents that address various aspects of obesity and diabetes and has been funded for promoting drug development for diabetes.  Dr. Dhurandhar has been a reviewer of grants for various funding agencies including the NIH and the American Diabetes Association, and has been a consultant to various organizations and companies.  Dr. Dhurandhar has published over 160 scientific publications and given over 100 invited talks.

His research focuses on molecular biological aspects of obesity and diabetes in particular, obesity due to microbes, and clinical treatment of obesity. He has conducted numerous clinical studies and has many ongoing clinical trials.  He has served as a mentor or advisor for several students and postdoctoral fellows. Four of his graduate students were Young Investigator Award finalists in international competitions. One student won the award at the International Congress on Obesity in Sydney, Australia, in 2006. Several other students have won research awards. 

Esquire magazine included him in their list of thirty “Best and Brightest Minds in the U.S.” His life and work have been featured by numerous media outlets and documentaries, including Times of India, Indian Express, New York Times, National Geographic, BBC-UK, CNN.

Research Interests