Dwight E. Matthews, professor and chair of chemistry and professor of medicine at the University of Vermont, has been selected by the National Institutes of Health to serve as chair of the Integrative Nutrition and Metabolic Processes Study Section, part of the NIH’s Center for Scientific Review.

With a two-year term beginning July 1, Dr. Matthews will have a unique opportunity to contribute to the national biomedical research effort, leading a 15-member group that reviews a significant number of NIH grant applications and helps shape the future of U.S. scientific inquiry into the fundamental workings of human biology and health.

Dr. Matthews' areas of expertise include analytical chemistry and mass spectrometry, and the application of stable isotope tracers to study human metabolism. He is director of the Mass Spectrometry Facility in the College of Medicine at the University of Vermont.

He was selected on the basis of his “demonstrated competence and achievement in [his] scientific discipline as evidenced by the quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and other significant scientific activities,” writes Dr. Toni Scarpa, director of the NIH’s Center for Scientific Review.

Matthews received a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Indiana University in 1977. After teaching and researching at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and at Cornell University Medical College in New York City, he joined the University of Vermont in 1996.

He was appointed chair of the chemistry department in 2002, and he was named a University Scholar for 2004-05.

His “selection as Study Section Chairperson is a testament to [his] reputation among his peers both within the university and nationally,” notes UVM provost A. John Bramley.