Nationality American | Name Rhonda Patrick | |
Fields Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Neurobiology Institutions UCSF-Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute Education BS in Biochemistry/Chemistry
Ph.D. in Biomedical Science Alma mater University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Thesis Anti-apoptotic MCL-1 Localizes to the Mitochondrial Matrix and Couples Mitochondrial Fusion to Respiration (2012) | ||
Dr Rhonda Patrick How Your Diet, Exercise, and Even Hyperthermic Conditioning Can Change the Expr
Rhonda Patrick, also Rhonda Perciavalle Patrick, is an American biochemist, cell biologist, science communicator, and podcaster. She is a scientist at UCSF-Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute known primarily in the popular media for her studies of the mechanistic link between vitamin D and serotonin production.
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Biography
Patrick completed her Bachelor of Science in biochemistry from the University of California, San Diego. She did research on aging at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. At the Salk, she investigated what role the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) signaling pathway plays in protein misfolding, which is commonly found in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and co-authored her first publication in Science. In 2012, Patrick completed her Ph.D in biomedical science from University of Tennessee Health Science Center and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. Her graduate studies investigated the link between mitochondrial metabolism, apoptosis, and cancer.
Following Patrick's graduate work at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, she did a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Bruce Ames at UCSF-Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute where she studied links between vitamin D and serotonin production in the brain.
Career
Patrick currently investigates the effects of micronutrient (vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids) inadequacies on metabolism, inflammation, DNA damage, and aging and whether restoring micronutrient levels can reverse the damage to cells. In addition, she is investigating the role of vitamin D in brain function, behavior, and other physiological functions.
In 2014, Patrick debuted her own podcast called FoundMyFitness where she publishes interviews she conducts with notable scientists, authors, and other experts, as well as general scientific and health related information. She frequently engages the public on topics including the role micronutrient deficiencies play in diseases of aging, the role of genetics in determining the effects of nutrients on a person's health status, benefits of exposing the body to hormetic stressors, such as through exercise, fasting, sauna use or heat stress, or various forms of cold exposure, and the importance of mindfulness, stress reduction, and sleep.
Awards and honors
In 2010, Patrick was one of only two graduate students selected to be awarded a grant towards post-doctoral research after presenting, along with ten other presenters nominated from academic institutions around the country, at the Bear Discoveries Research Symposium on her graduate work involving the MCL1 gene.
Media appearances
Patrick’s research has been has been featured in: The Boston Globe, The Telegraph, the CBC documentary The Nature of Things, The San Francisco Chronicle, Fox 5 San Diego, ABC 7 San Francisco, The Daily Californian, Ocala Star-Banner, Whole Foods Magazine, Daily News and Analysis, Pourquoi Docteur, Zero Hora ClicRBS, and top 50 podcasts like the Joe Rogan Experience and the Tim Ferriss Show.