Jeffrey Zigman

Jeffrey Zigman, M.D., Ph.D., is a tenured Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, with a secondary appointment in Psychiatry. He holds the Kent and Jodi Foster Distinguished Chair in Endocrinology and other endowed professorships. Dr. Zigman earned his B.A. from Cornell University, his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and completed residency and fellowship training at the University of Chicago and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He joined UT Southwestern in 2006 and currently chairs the Molecular Metabolism & Metabolic Diseases Graduate Track and directs the Enrichment Program at the Nutrition and Obesity Research Center.

His research focuses on the hormonal and neuronal mechanisms underlying eating behavior, blood glucose regulation, and stress responses, with a particular emphasis on ghrelin's role in obesity, diabetes, and mood disorders. The Zigman Lab employs transgenic mouse models, behavioral assays, and advanced techniques like chemogenetics to study ghrelin's effects on energy homeostasis, reward pathways, and neuroprotection. Current projects investigate ghrelin's role in exercise endurance, Prader-Willi Syndrome, and Alzheimer's Disease.

Dr. Zigman mentors a team of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and technicians, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to metabolic and neurological challenges. His lab has developed novel tools, including ghrelin-Cre mice and immortalized ghrelin cell lines, widely used in the scientific community. Recent work highlights ghrelin's antidepressant effects, its regulation by insulin and stress, and its implications in cancer-related cachexia.