“Come for the science and stay for the people,” Dr. James Roemmich says to those interested in a career at the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center. Dr. Roemmich came to the Center in 2011 as a Research Leader and became the Center Director in 2016.

In addition to being the Director, Roemmich also conducts science as a Supervisory Research Physiologist.

“My area of expertise can be broadly defined as physiology and behavior,” Dr. Roemmich explained. “My research focuses on answering questions related to how physiology and behavior are intertwined in regards to adhering to healthy eating and physical activity guidelines, especially the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans.”

A native of North Dakota, Roemmich received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Jamestown College. After earning his master’s degree in exercise physiology and biology in 1988 at Ball State University, he continued on to Kent State University to earn his doctorate in exercise physiology in 1994. Then he went to the University of Virginia for a three-year, post-doctoral research fellowship.

Dr. Roemmich was promoted in 1997 to an Assistant Professor of Research at the University of Virginia and then joined the faculty at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

The ability to make a positive impact on the Center community is one of the favorite aspects of his service as Center Director.

“My favorite part of the job is helping people,” Roemmich said. “I achieve that by doing administrative and leadership responsibilities and providing a vision for our Center’s research direction. This helps people at the Center accomplish our mission.” We have very talented and dedicated people who accomplish so much every day.

Roemmich remains an active investigator and greatly enjoys learning from his teams studies.

“I just have always enjoyed being an investigator,” Roemmich explained. “That’s where I started. It’s been really fun asking the important questions that help impact the health and the livelihoods of the people that we serve.”

Dr. Roemmich loves seeing the effects that exercise studies have on participants and what participation enables people to do.

“Some participants who’ve not been very physically active when joining a study  are now running marathons,” Roemmich said. “That is unusual, but many participants stay more active after participating in our studies.” “When I hear about that and I see that happen, it’s just tremendous. That really makes me feel good about what we’re doing.”

The Center has much to offer to potential employees, such as the opportunity to work alongside talented individuals at a world-class facility, according to Roemmich.

“If you’re a scientist or a technician thinking of joining the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, look at our competitive salaries and benefits, as well as the brilliant core lab staff. We have a very dedicated and talented staff,” Roemmich said. “We provide everything you need to do the science here: funds for the core labs, equipment purchases and human study costs. It’s the best deal in research if you want to do human nutrition research.”