Director of the NextGen Precision Health building

Associate Professor of Nutrition & Exercise Physiology, CAFNR
Associate Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology and Hepatology), School of Medicine
Research Health Scientist, Harry S Truman Memorial VA Hospital

Dr. Rector is committed to growing and leading federally funded research through the NextGen Precision Health initiative, the MU School of Medicine, and the Harry S Truman Memorial VA Hospital.

He was appointed associate director of the NextGen building in 2021. His active, federally funded research program focuses on prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Dr. Rector’s lab takes a translational approach to examine these conditions, employing strategies in cell culture systems, small and large animal models and intervention studies in humans. He is nationally and internationally recognized as an expert in exercise and hepatic metabolism and has authored or co-authored more than 135 peer-reviewed articles in his research fields.

Dr. Rector received his PhD in Exercise Physiology from the University of Missouri in 2007. Dr. Rector has co-appointments in the departments of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology and Medicine-Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Missouri-School of Medicine, and also is a Research Health Scientist at the Harry S Truman Memorial VA Hospital.

A native of Arkansas, Dr. Rector earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in exercise science from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.