University of Utah's Kevin Hicks Selected as 2026 VPCAT Scholar for Metabolome-Proteome Research

Dec 12, 2025

Kevin Hicks, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology, has been selected as a 2026 Vice President’s Clinical and Translational (VPCAT) Scholar at the University of Utah. This prestigious program provides mentorship, resources, and training to help early-career faculty build sustainable research programs and secure funding, fostering leadership in clinical and translational science.

Kevin Hicks in lab looking over research

Hicks’s research focuses on interactions between the metabolome and proteome to uncover insights into health, disease, and drug discovery. His work contributes to advancing knowledge in metabolite signaling, protein-metabolite interactomics, and the development of novel interactome discovery platforms, with implications for improving metabolic health and therapeutic strategies.

Kevin Hicks

About Dr. Kevin Hicks

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Hicks earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology with an emphasis in Biochemistry from the University of Oregon in 2007, where he trained with Dr. Karen Guillemin in the Institute of Molecular Biology. He completed his Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Washington in 2015 under the mentorship of Dr. Sam Miller. Following his doctoral training, Hicks joined the University of Utah as a postdoctoral researcher with Dr. Jared Rutter in the Department of Biochemistry.

In 2020, Hicks became a research instructor in Biochemistry and transitioned to his current role as assistant professor in Nutrition and Integrative Physiology in 2024. His expertise spans human metabolism regulation, protein biochemistry and enzymology, metabolomics, and interactomics. Outside the lab, Hicks enjoys hiking, backpacking, camping, overlanding, snowboarding, spinning vinyl, reading science fiction, and spending time with his wife and two children.

Share: