Ameer Taha

Ameer Taha is a Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis, affiliated with the Robert Mondavi Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology and an M.S. in Nutritional Sciences, both from the University of Toronto, Canada. His research employs mass-spectrometry-based 'omics methods to study oxidized lipids and environmental toxins in food, focusing on their impact on brain function and neurodevelopmental disorders. Key areas include maternal pesticide exposure’s effects on autism, antibiotic residues in farmed seafood, and the role of processed food lipids in neurological health.

Notable awards include the American Society for Neurochemistry’s Jordi-Folch Pi Award (2018), ISSFAL’s Dr. Norman Salem Jr. Early Career Award (2021), and recognition as a World’s Top 2% Scientist (2024). His work spans food safety, neurotoxicology, and lipidomic profiling, with over 100 peer-reviewed publications. Recent studies address air pollution’s link to Alzheimer’s disease, oxylipin stability in biological samples, and the development of advanced analytical methods for toxin detection.

• Education:
  • Ph.D., Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Toronto (Canada)
  • M.S., Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto (Canada)
• Research Themes:
  • Mass spectrometry-based lipidomics
  • Foodborne toxin analysis
  • Neurological impacts of dietary lipids
  • Environmental toxin exposure pathways
• Lab Activities:
  • Development of novel oxylipin libraries
  • Quantification of oxidized fatty acids in food matrices
  • Study of lipid mediators in neurodegenerative diseases