Naïma Moustaïd-Moussa, Ph.D., FTOS, FAHA

Dr. Naïma Moustaïd-Moussa was appointed In Jul 2024 as the Inaugural Executive Director of the Institute for One Health Innovation, a newly established joint institute between Texas Tech University (TTU) and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC). She is a Paul W. Horn Distinguished Professor in the TTU Department of Nutritional Sciences; Professor in the TTUHSC Department of Cell Biology & Biochemistry; and Founding Director of the Obesity Research Institute.

Dr. Naïma leads the Nutrigenomics, Inflammation and Obesity Research (NIOR), conducting basic and integrated nutrition and obesity research, with emphasis on the role of the endocrine function of adipose tissue (renin angiotensin system), heat shock proteins, and nutrient-gene interactions in metabolic diseases, breast cancer, aging, and Alzheimer's disease. Current research focuses on bioactive compounds (such as fish oil, tart cherry anthocyanins, curcumin, and other polyphenols) that reduce obesity-associated white fat inflammation, activate brown fat, reduce neuroinflammation and aging-related metabolic dysfunctions, using cells, rodents, and model organisms. Her secondary area of interest is in obesity prevention.

Dr. Naïma published over 180 peer reviewed papers from work funded by federal agencies (NIH and USDA), foundations (AHA, ADA) and international Foundations (Qatar) as well as industry (Empirical Foods, Inc). She served in several leadership positions within the American Society for Nutrition (ASN, as a member of the ASN Board of Directors), The Obesity Society (TOS Council), and the American Heart Association (AHA, Lipids Basic Science peer review committee chair). She completed her service (2016-2022) on the NIH Human Studies of Diabetes & Obesity) and is a member of several scientific journal editorial boards, including Scientific Reports (Nature Springer), J. Nutritional Biochemistry (Elsevier) & JAHA (Wiley).

Dr. Naïma is a Fellow of AHA (FAHA) and a Fellow of TOS (FTOS). She received several awards sponsored by ASN (2012 Outstanding Investigator award, 2015 Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Nutritional Sciences award, 2020 Korean Nutrition Society Award). She was also awarded mentoring and scholarship awards by TTU (2018 Nancy J Bell Outstanding Mentor Award, 2019 Outstanding Faculty Mentor for Undergraduate Research, 2020 Outstanding Researcher Award). In 2021, she received the Barnie E. Rushing J. Distinguished Faculty Research Award and was appointed as Paul W. Horn Distinguished Professor. She served for several years as the state of TX as Region 1 representative on the statewide Live Smart Texas, a committee dedicated to obesity prevention and resources.  In 2022, she was appointed to the National Academies’ Board on Agriculture & Natural Resources (BANR).  In 2023-2024, she served as an Associate Vice President for Research at TTU, where she supported faculty mentoring and health-related strategic initiatives at. In Jul 2023, she rejoined the ASN Board of Directors as ASN's Vice President-Elect and became the ASN Vice President in Jul 2024.

Research Interests

• Dietary and Genetic regulation of adipocyte inflammation: Link to Obesity, Insulin Resistance, Cancer, Aging/Alzheimer’s Disease
• Bioactive food components (Omega 3 fatty acids, Curcumin, Tart Cherry Anthocyanins, Beef proteins, and others ), Endocrine systems (Renin Angiotensin System; Adipokines), and underlying mechanisms (Genomics/Proteomic/Metabolomics/Cells/Animals)
• Identify novel adipocyte factors contributing to metabolic disorders, Obesity-Cancer, and Obesity-Aging interactions

Future Research Collaboration Interests

• Molecular links between obesity-breast cancer and adipocyte endocrine function 
• Bioactive compounds, aging, and Alzheimer's disease
• Model organisms for metabolic diseases 

Awards & Honors

• 2023- Vice President Elect (VPE), American Society for Nutrition, ASN (4 year team, VPE, then VP, President, & Past President)
• 2022- Member, Board n Agriculture & Natural Resources (BANR), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine (NASEM)
• 2020-2022 – Elected, Director At-Large, American Society for Nutrition (ASN) Board of Directors, representing Nutrition Mechanisms (basic science)
• 2020 – Korean Nutrition Society Award sponsored by the American Society for Nutrition
• 2018-2022 – Steering Committee Member, Statewide committee on obesity prevention, Live Smart Texas (LST) & Representative for Texas Region 1
• 2016-2022 – Member of the NIH Human Studies in Obesity & Diabetes study section (HSDO, formerly Clinical and Integrative Diabetes and Obesity, CIDO)
• 2016-2018 – Elected to the Nutritional Sciences Council Governing Committee of ASN (American Society for Nutrition), representing Cell/Molecular Nutrition
• 2015 – Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA), Council of Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health
• 2015 – Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Nutritional Sciences Award (sponsored by ASN)
• 2013-2015 – Chair, American Heart Association Lipids Basic Science Peer Review Committee
• 2012 – ASN Outstanding Research Award, sponsored by the Nutrient Gene Interactions RIS

CV