Stephen A. Watts, Ph.D., is the winner of the 2026 Richard B. Marchase, Ph.D. Award, in recognition of his exceptional contributions to advancing interdisciplinary research and a spirit of camaraderie.
“Professor Watts is the personification of what the Marchase Award represents – collaborative and interdisciplinary in the pursuit of high-quality research,” said Christopher Brown, Ph.D., UAB’s vice president for research. “Through his many years of service at UAB, he has not only contributed to the advancement of research on aquatic organisms, but has mentored and trained hundreds of faculty, trainees, and students.”
Dr. Watts is a professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Biology and director of the UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center Lab Animal Nutrition Core. A former graduate program director, Dr. Watts began his professional career with UAB in 1987, working across disciplines to improve research and training at the university—playing a key role in developing what would eventually become the university’s Accelerated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program, as well as the renowned UAB Zebrafish Research Facility.
While at UAB, Dr. Watts has built a robust lab in animal science focusing on comparative physiology, biochemistry, and nutrition of aquatic organisms, leading to consistent funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. With research interests that include nutritional regulation in lab animal models of human health and disease, as well as in animals used in production agriculture and aquaculture—with a particular emphasis on obesity and co-morbidities—his lab has pioneered the development of nutritionally complete, open-formulation reference diets for rodents, zebrafish, and invertebrate biomedical models, underscoring nutrition’s critical role in disease onset, progression, and treatment in humans.
A commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration has been a defining feature of Dr. Watts’ career, and some of the highlights include his 2013 appointment as associate director of the Sustainable Smart Cities Research Center, an initiative that brought together Environmental Engineering, Biology, and Facilities. This work ultimately led to the creation of the UAB Committee on Sustainability, where Dr. Watts served as the first faculty representative. He later earned a secondary appointment in Surgery after developing an interdisciplinary research program with faculty in the Heersink School of Medicine to explore the gut-brain axis in vertebrate models.
With more than 200 publications and book chapters to his credit, Dr. Watts stands out as the only current UAB faculty member to have earned three of the university’s highest honors: the Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Award for Scholarly Distinction, the Presidential Award for Teaching, and the Graduate Dean’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Mentorship. He is also a founding member and senior organizer of the Laboratory Animal Nutrition Taskforce for an Education and Research Network, a coalition of internationally recognized science researchers and innovative opinion leaders with a unifying vision for transformative nutrition research. Beyond these achievements, Dr. Watts is passionate about promoting agriculture and food security in Alabama communities
Prior to his career at UAB, Dr. Watts received a B.S. in Marine Science at Auburn University, a M.S. in Zoology and Ph.D. in Biology at University of South Florida, and completed his Postdoctoral training at University of New Hampshire and the State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
The Marchase Interdisciplinary Research Lecture and Award will be held on Tuesday, January 27, and will feature Dr. Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences. For more information and to RSVP, click here.
