Andrew D. Patterson

Andrew D. Patterson

Dr. Andrew Patterson came to Penn State in 2011 after serving as a Research Fellow at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. He was recruited to Penn State to initiate and direct the metabolomics facility. After only four years at Penn State, he was promoted to tenure and then full professor within nine years. In addition to his split appointment across two colleges, he is also supported by and active in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

Dr. Patterson is recognized as a leader in the field of toxicology, physiology, and metabolomics, operating at the confluence of metabolism, microbiome, and environmental and human health. His research has appeared in Environmental Health Perspectives, Nature Communications, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Cancer Research, Toxicological Sciences, and most recently Nature, Nature Medicine, and Cell Metabolism. He has been named twice as a Clarivate Web of Science highly cited researcher in 2021 and 2022, and the impact of his and colleagues’ work is evidenced by an H-index of 69 with more than 15,000 citations. As one of his support letters notes, “These are extraordinary metrics for a faculty member who is only 16 years removed from his graduate studies.”

Dr. Patterson’s program has been awarded more than $15 million from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Department of Health. He is currently maintaining two R01 grants from NIH, one equipment grant from the NIH that funded the acquisition of a state of the art mass spectrometer, and a training grant focused on training students in the field of metabolomics.

His drive to translate his findings to improve human health are demonstrated in two programs he has initiated that will likely lead to major advances in the field. One has the potential to improve the detection and prevention of lung cancer using urine, and the other could reshape health policy in Pennsylvania and bridge the gap between medical and preventative nutrition by assessing the impact of diet and nutrition on human health at a population scale. He has trained numerous students, including 8 Ph.D. students, three currently, and 12 postdoctoral fellows who have gone on to prestigious graduate and professional programs, finding positions with major pharmaceutical groups like Genentech and AstraZeneca.

In addition to this record of exemplary research and publications, Dr. Patterson and colleagues have also worked to translate their research beyond the scientific community, including three patents, and co-founding the company Heliobiome Biotech to produce an orally delivered, tissue-selective drug that aims to combat fatty liver disease.

To echo the sentiments expressed in the letters of nomination, “Dr. Patterson’s innovation, collaboration, vision, and leadership have made him an essential member of Penn State and the greater academic community.”