Robert J. Cousins

Robert J. Cousins (born 1941) is an American nutrition scientist who has researched the metabolism of heavy metals, especially zinc. He was recognized with membership in the National Academy of Sciences in 2000 and served as editor of the Annual Review of Nutrition for ten years.

Robert J. Cousins
Born1941 (age 79–80)
CitizenshipUS
Education
Partner(s)Elizabeth née Ward
Children3
Scientific career
Institutions

Early life and education

Robert J. Cousins was born in 1941 as the only child born to Doris née Sifferlen and C. Robert Cousins.[1][2] His maternal grandparents were immigrants to the United States from Alsace. On his father's side of the family, his heritage is predominantly Scottish, Irish, English, and German.[1] He attended the University of Vermont, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1963. He completed a master's degree in animal science at the University of Connecticut in 1965, followed by a PhD in nutritional biochemistry at the same university in 1968.[3]

Career

In 1971 he began a position as an assistant professor at Rutgers University in their animal sciences department. While at Rutgers, he researched the metabolism of calcium as well as the heavy metal cadmium. He also studied the absorption of zinc. In 1981, he accepted a job offer from the University of Florida in a newly established endowed chair; he became the Boston Family Professor of Nutrition. At UF, he continued researching zinc and its influence on metallothionein. Cousins served as the editor of the Annual Review of Nutrition from 2005 to 2014.[1]

Selected publications
  • Cousins, R. J. (1985). "Absorption, transport, and hepatic metabolism of copper and zinc: Special reference to metallothionein and ceruloplasmin". Physiological Reviews. 65 (2): 238–309. doi:10.1152/physrev.1985.65.2.238.
  • Cousins, Robert J.; Liuzzi, Juan P.; Lichten, Louis A. (2006). "Mammalian Zinc Transport, Trafficking, and Signals". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 281 (34): 24085–24089. doi:10.1074/jbc.R600011200. PMID 16793761. S2CID 33581887.
  • Liuzzi, Juan P.; Cousins, Robert J. (2004). "Mammalian Zinc Transporters". Annual Review of Nutrition. 24: 151–172. doi:10.1146/annurev.nutr.24.012003.132402. PMID 15189117.

Awards and honors

In 1991 he served as the first elected president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. In 1996 he was the president of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences (now the American Society for Nutrition[1] In 2000 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.[4] He was awarded the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award in 2003 in the nutrition research section.[1]

Personal life

In 1965, while Cousins was a student at the University of Connecticut, he met Elizabeth Ward on a blind date. They married in January 1969 in Stamford, Connecticut and have three children. He has an affinity for British sports cars.[1]

References
  1. Cousins, Robert J. (2016). "Driving Along the Zinc Road". Annual Review of Nutrition. 36: 1–15. doi:10.1146/annurev-nutr-071715-050854. PMID 27090747.
  2. "Cousins". The Kingston Daily Freeman. Kingston, New York. 19 October 1968. p. 7.
  3. "DR. ROBERT J. COUSINS". Food Science and Human Nutrition Department. University of Florida.
  4. "Robert Cousins". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
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