James C. Fleet PhD

Dr. Fleet is the Margaret McKean Love Endowed Professor in Nutrition, Cellular, and Molecular Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a BS and Ph.D. from Cornell University and has previously held faculty appointments at Tufts University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Purdue University. Dr. Fleet's research is focused on the molecular and physiological functions of vitamin D as they pertain to the control of calcium metabolism and the prevention of cancer. He also conducts research on the interactions between genetics and diet influencing bone health as well as the impact of nutrition on inflammation and immunity in the context of cancer. His research employs the tools of molecular biology, genomics, and genetics to address questions relevant to human health and disease prevention. He has published 151 primary journal articles, book chapters, and reviews and he has been invited to speak on his work across the globe. He has a strong commitment to graduate education and in that capacity, he contributed to the establishment of the Tufts University School of Nutrition Science and Policy and served as the Graduate Program Director at UNC-Greensboro (2 years) and Purdue University (14 years). His research has received over $14 million in funding from the NIH, the USDA, and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). He served as a contributing editor to Nutrition Reviews, has been on the editorial boards of The Journal of Nutrition and Endocrinology (current), and is an associate editor for the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He has been a standing member of the INMP and CDP study sections at NIH. He has organized FASEB Summer Conferences and a summer workshop on “Big Data analysis for Biomedical Researchers” and has served on the Program Committee for the Vitamin D Workshop (currently the CEO), the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), the AICR, and the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. In 2001, he was the recipient of the Mead Johnson Award from the ASN (2004), he was honored as a "University Faculty Scholar" (2004-9) and a “distinguished professor” at Purdue (an honor awarded to just 5% of faculty), and he is a fellow of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (2019).