Scott Summers
Dr. Scott Summers is a Distinguished Professor, inaugural Chair of the Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology, and William J. Rutter Presidential Endowed Chair of Biochemistry at the University of Utah. He also serves as Co-Executive Director of the University of Utah Center for Metabolic Health.
Over the past two decades, Dr. Summers has helped redefine how the field understands metabolic disease by establishing that sphingolipids—particularly ceramides—are not passive byproducts of metabolism, but active drivers of insulin resistance and organ dysfunction across the heart, kidney, liver, and skeletal muscle. His work has shaped a growing area of research and positioned ceramides as clinically actionable biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
Building on these discoveries, Dr. Summers co-founded Centaurus Therapeutics in 2015 to translate this biology into new treatments. The company is now advancing ceramide-lowering therapies into clinical trials for diabetes, heart failure, and kidney disease.
In parallel with his scientific contributions, Dr. Summers has played a central role in building a highly collaborative metabolism research ecosystem at the University of Utah. As the inaugural chair of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology, he has led the department to become one of the top federally funded nutrition programs in the country. Through the Center for Metabolic Health, he has helped expand interdisciplinary programs, develop research cores, and secure multiple training grants, creating an environment that accelerates discovery and supports the next generation of scientists.
Prior to joining the University of Utah, Dr. Summers held faculty and leadership positions at Duke University and Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Australia, and Colorado State University. He earned his B.S. in Biochemistry from Indiana University, his Ph.D. in Physiology from Southern Illinois University, and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania.
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