Dr. P. Darrell Neufer
Professor and Director of the East Carolina Diabetes and Obesity Institute, East Carolina University
“Electricity - The Elemental Principle of Life (Was Dr. Frankenstein Right?)"

P. Darrell Neufer is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, attended West Virginia Wesleyan College as an undergraduate, received a M.S. degree in Exercise Physiology from Ball State University (1986), a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from East Carolina University (93), and completed postdoctoral training in Molecular Biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (1993-1996). 

From 1996-2006, he was an Assistant/Associate Professor with the John B. Piece Laboratory and the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale University. 

During the early phase of his career, his laboratory investigated the basic mechanisms regulating metabolic gene expression in skeletal muscle, working closely for several years with the Copenhagen Muscle Resarch Center in Denmark. 

Over time, the lab’s research interest shifted to mitochondrial bioenergetics and the regulation of insulin sensitivity. In 2006, Dr. Neufer returned to East Carolina University to continue his research on the primary underlying causes of obesity-induced diabetes. He is currently the Director of the East Carolina Diabetes and Obesity Institute and Professor in the Department of Physiology, Brody School of Medicine. 

Dr. Neufer’s research has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health. He has published over 90 peer reviewed papers and book chapters, chaired/participated in numerous national/international grant review panels, and has been invited to present at more than 85 universities and national/international research conferences.