Dereĸ Danιelѕ

Political junkie, scientist and biology dept chair, runner, mediocre guitar player, devoted husband, father of three. Personal account. He/Him/His

[SSIB @SSIBsociety]

Check out this great conversation between Professor Alan Spector and Professor Emeritus James C. Smith, highlighting his career and his involvement with SSIB! https://t.co/ljNMl5ItF7

[Dereĸ Danιelѕ @drderekd]

I know this is nit-picky, but even though we call it an RO1 (with the letter O in the middle), it's an R01 (with a zero in the middle). Please don't write it with the letter in the middle. It's not a good look. #NIH #Grants #Science #Pedantic

[Dereĸ Danιelѕ @drderekd]

What a nice surprise in my mailbox this morning. #UBuffalo #UBTrueBlue

[Dereĸ Danιelѕ @drderekd]

That’s not to say that I’ve never talked about politics with a job candidate or when I’ve been a candidate. I’m just saying that I would never bring it up when hiring. To me, it’s irrelevant and the promise of success in scholarship should be the key factor in hiring decisions.

[Dereĸ Danιelѕ @drderekd]

I’m the chair of a bio department at a public university and I have never, nor would I ever, bring up political ideology when interviewing a faculty candidate. It’s simply not how we should define people (in my view) and imposing this tribalism feels so misguided to me.

[Mollie @MZHemingway]

All public universities should be required to have minimum 50% of their staff be conservative professors by spring 2026. In each department.

[Fred Guttenberg @fred_guttenberg]

We need more of this in America.

Thank you @RepRaskin and @RepKnott.

[SSIB @SSIBsociety]

Christmas has come early....SSIBlings in a box!

#SSIB2025 Oxford, UK

[Dereĸ Danιelѕ @drderekd]

Made it stateside after an excellent #SSIB2025. Oxford was amazing and the meeting was one of the better ones I can remember. I’m looking forward to Philly already. #SSIB2026! @SSIBsociety

[Dereĸ Danιelѕ @drderekd]

We loved hosting Kellie for @ub_cibr #UBIB research day.
#SSIBlingsInTheWild

[SSIB @SSIBsociety]

The Competition is On! Balancing Ingestive and Competing Behaviors

Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of @NIDDKgov!

hear the latest from:
Michael Krashes · Tatiana Kortokova · Celine Riera
🗓️ July 28–Aug 1 · 📍Oxford
👉 https://t.co/5aLlAsARnW
#SSIB2025 #NIDDK75

[SSIB @SSIBsociety]

Exercise as a Modifier of Feeding

hear the latest from:
David Thivel · Barbara Lieder · Kevin Williams
🗓️ July 28–Aug 1 · 📍Oxford
👉 Register: https://t.co/5aLlAsARnW
#SSIB2025

[SSIB @SSIBsociety]

What "Food Systems" Can Teach Us About Drug Use and Addiction

hear the latest from:
Sue Grigson · Brandon Henderson · Katherine Serafine
🗓️ July 28–Aug 1 · 📍Oxford
👉 Register: https://t.co/5aLlAsARnW
#SSIB2025

[SSIB @SSIBsociety]

👇Don’t miss the fantastic symposia @ #SSIB2025👇

GLP-1R Agonists: What Can We Learn From These Drugs?

hear the latest from:
Ralph DiLeone · Jessica Matheus Sa · Mette Kruse Klausen
🗓️ July 28–Aug 1 · 📍Oxford
👉 Register: https://t.co/5aLlAsARnW
#SSIB2025

[Kevin Hall @KevinH_PhD]

After 21 years at my dream job, I’m very sad to announce my early retirement from the National Institutes of Health. My life’s work has been to scientifically study how our food environment affects what we eat, and how what we eat affects our physiology. Lately, I’ve focused on unravelling the reasons why diets high in ultra-processed food are linked to epidemic proportions of chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Our research leads the world on this topic.

Given recent bipartisan goals to prevent diet-related chronic diseases, and new agency leadership professing to prioritize scientific investigation of ultra-processed foods, I had hoped to expand our research program with ambitious plans to more rapidly and efficiently determine how our food is likely making Americans chronically sick.

Unfortunately, recent events have made me question whether NIH continues to be a place where I can freely conduct unbiased science. Specifically, I experienced censorship in the reporting of our research because of agency concerns that it did not appear to fully support preconceived narratives of my agency’s leadership about ultra-processed food addiction.

I was hoping this was an aberration. So, weeks ago I wrote to my agency’s leadership expressing my concerns and requested time to discuss these issues, but I never received a response. Without any reassurance there wouldn’t be continued censorship or meddling in our research, I felt compelled to accept early retirement to preserve health insurance for my family. (Resigning later in protest of any future meddling or censorship would result in losing that benefit.) Due to very tight deadlines to make this decision, I don’t yet have plans for my future career.

The NIH has been a wonderful place because it allows scientists to take risks, form unique collaborations, and do studies difficult to conduct elsewhere. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished and I’m fortunate to have had such wonderful colleagues and scientific collaborators. I hope to someday return to government service and lead a research program that will continue to provide gold-standard science to make Americans healthy.

[Dereĸ Danιelѕ @drderekd]

The tone-deafness is staggering. It’s good that he says that the vaccine is the best way to prevent the disease, but to fail to acknowledge the unforgivable role he’s played in the skepticism that caused the outbreak is infuriating.

[Secretary Kennedy @SecKennedy]

I came to­ Gaines County, Texas, today to comfort the Hildebrand family after the loss of their 8-year-old daughter Daisy. I got to know the family of 6-year-old Kayley Fehr after she passed away in February. I also developed bonds with and deep affection for other members of this community during that difficult time. My intention was to come down here quietly to console the families and to be with the community in their moment of grief.

I am also here to support Texas health officials and to learn how our HHS agencies can better partner with them to control the measles outbreak, which as of today, there are 642 confirmed cases of measles across 22 states, 499 of those in Texas.

In early March, I deployed a CDC team to bolster local and state capacity for response across multiple Texas regions, supply pharmacies and Texas run clinics with needed MMR vaccines and other medicines and medical supplies, work with local schools and healthcare facilities to support contact investigations, and to reach out to communities, including faith leaders, to answer any questions or respond to locations seeking healthcare. Since that time, the growth rates for new cases and hospitalizations have flattened. The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine. I’ve spoken to Governor Abbott, and I’ve offered HHS’ continued support. At his request, we have redeployed CDC teams to Texas. We will continue to follow Texas’ lead and to offer similar resources to other affected jurisdictions.

[Dereĸ Danιelѕ @drderekd]

@drugmonkeyblog I don't see notices like that at other websites. I did a quick check of NHLBI, NIDA, NIAAA, and NIMH.

[SSIB @SSIBsociety]

Calling all grad students and postdocs!

Join @ssib_niab to connect with the international ingestive behavior community!

✅ Network with peers
✅ Compete for travel & presentation awards
🗓️ Abstract submission deadline: March 21, 2025
#SSIB2025 #NewInvestigators

[Dereĸ Danιelѕ @drderekd]

Science/academia friends: we’re looking for examples of recent teaching lab renovations/construction. Any examples out there?

[SSIB @SSIBsociety]

Join SSIB Today!

📅 Annual Meeting Deadlines:

Abstracts: March 14

Early Registration: June 18

📷 Learn more: https://t.co/nlKZbHhqeJ

Join a supportive and innovative community. Learn more from #ThomasLutz, former president (2011-12), below!

#IngestiveBehavior

[Dereĸ Danιelѕ @drderekd]

And finally, it turned into a meme.

[Dereĸ Danιelѕ @drderekd]

A funny thing happened on Ubreddit…🧵

It all started with this.
@UBBiology

[Dereĸ Danιelѕ @drderekd]

And the faculty member with the kissing students gave the class a little quiz…which was also shared by students on Reddit.