Obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and related sequelae are major and growing concerns to public health worldwide. To address this, the UC Davis Department of Surgery established the Center of Alimentary and Metabolic Science (CAMS). The Center brings laboratory and clinical scientists “under one roof” to study the underlying factors that shape metabolic health, with an aim to optimize surgical and non-surgical strategies that promote metabolic health, reduce cardiometabolic disease risk, and improve patient outcomes. Embedded within one of the top surgery departments in the nation, the CAMS aims to catalyze multi-disciplinary collaborative research and training, building strong networks between UC Davis Health, Land Grant campus colleagues, and community partners.    

Our mission is to discover how nutrition, metabolism, gut microbes, and endocrine systems interconnect to impact health, function, and obesity-associated conditions.

The CAMS builds upon the strengths of campus-wide collaboration, the diversity of the community we serve, and our expertise in obesity, metabolism and diabetes research and surgical practice. 

 Our Aims are to:

• Provide resources, services and expertise to investigators and clinicians interested in the impacts of nutrition and metabolism on disease etiology and outcomes.
• Foster both basic and clinical research related to cardiometabolic health.
• Enhance the contributions and awareness of research in nutrition, metabolism, and obesity at UC Davis.
• Provide a state-of-the-art facility for laboratory and clinical science to support collaborative research opportunities in the Department of Surgery and beyond.
• Translate discoveries from nutrition, metabolic science, and obesity research into opportunities to improve human health and well-being.
• Provide training opportunities for UC Davis students, postdoctoral fellows, medical students, residents, and other allied health professionals.