History

About Us

The Obesity Research Institute (ORI), formally approved by the TTUS Board of Regents in 2019, has been renamed the Center of Excellence in Obesity and Cardiometabolic Research (COCR) in 2025.  The new center is now strategically realigned with the system wide Institute for One Health Innovation (IOHI),  jointly funded by TTU and TTUHSC,  to better reflect its expanded focus on obesity and cardiometabolic health, and its integration within the TTU system.

The ORI was originally established in 2013 as the Obesity Research Cluster (ORC) within the College of Heath and Human Sciences (CoHHS), founded by Dr. Naïma Moustaïd-Moussa and Dean Linda Hoover, with support from OR&I. Dr. Moustaïd-Moussa served as the ORI's Founding Director and most recently co-led the institute alongside Dr. Jannette Dufour (TTUHSC).

With Dr. Moustaïd-Moussa’s new role as Inaugural Executive Director for IOHI, the leadership of COCR has transitioned to Dr. Kembra Albracht-Schulte (TTU) as Director, and Dr. Jannette Dufour (TTUHSC) as Co-Director. COCR will continue to serve as a central hub for cutting-edge research, bringing together scientists and experts from across the TTU System to advance scientific discovery in obesity and cardiometabolic health.

Additionally, with ORI now reporting to IOHI, which is affiliated with both TTU and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC), the name change to the Center of Excellence in Obesity and Cardiometabolic Research (COCR) reflects its evolving mission and expanded interdisciplinary collaborations.

COCR continues to serve as a central hub for cutting-edge research, bringing together scientists and experts from the TTU System, TTUHSC Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Biomedical Sciences to advance scientific discovery in obesity and cardiometabolic health.

 

President Cluster Hire

The President's Cluster Hire program was designed to contribute significant research towards TTU's goal to become a top tier research institution. These Clusters were expected to be interdisciplinary in nature but with a thematic focus that addressed a strategic research area. Related to the ORC, Nutrition and Obesity were included as strategic investment areas.

In fall 2014, the ORC was awarded the President's Cluster Hire Tier 2 (9/1/2014-8/30/2018) to support a postdoctoral fellow, external high-profile speakers experts in obesity, nutrition and metabolic diseases, and provide seed funds to support and incentivize pilot and feasibility collaborative research. Through 2019, ORI was primarily supported by COHS and the Office of Research Development and Communications.

COCR will continue this collaboration, which has extended over the years to other TTU colleges and TTUHSC campuses.