Harold Hamm Diabetes Center at the University of Oklahoma announces new deputy director

The Harold Hamm Diabetes Center (HHDC) at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences will gain a new deputy director, Matthew Potthoff, Ph.D., effective January 1. Potthoff will also hold the title of Harold Hamm Endowed Chair in Clinical Diabetes Research and professor of biochemistry and physiology, with a secondary appointment in the division of neurology in the OU College of Medicine.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Potthoff to the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center,” said Jed Friedman, Ph.D., director of HHDC. “As a distinguished neuroscientist, his pioneering work bridges the crucial intersection of brain health and metabolic diseases. His expertise opens exciting new avenues for understanding and treating diabetes, and his leadership will significantly enhance our mission to find a cure and improve lives.”

As deputy director of the HHDC, Potthoff will be responsible for helping guide pilot grants and research events such as the Metabolic Research Conference and the Diabetes Research Symposium, as well as representing the center’s vision, direction and investment opportunities.

Potthoff returns home to Oklahoma and OU, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2003.  He then earned his doctorate from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and subsequently performed a Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2012, he joined the faculty in the Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology and the F.O.E. Diabetes Research Center at the University of Iowa. His primary research interests are the role of liver-derived hormones, termed hepatokines, in regulating systemic energy and nutrient homeostasis through their actions on the brain. Based on his work, Potthoff was awarded the Distinguished Scholar Award at the University of Iowa and received the Roy J. Carver Professorship in Neuroscience and Pharmacology. In addition to his research, Potthoff served as the Molecular Medicine Graduate Program Director at the University of Iowa.