Rate My Professor Frank Hays

Frank Hays is an accomplished researcher and educator serving as Associate Dean for Research, Associate Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, and Director of the Redox and Nutritional Biochemistry Laboratory at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. He is also a member of the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center and an associate member of the Stephenson Cancer Center, as well as the Data Institute for Societal Challenges. Hays earned a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 2000. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Biophysics at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, in 2005. Following his doctoral studies, he conducted postdoctoral research as an NRSA/Sandler Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Stroud at the University of California, San Francisco, from 2005 to 2009, focusing on integral membrane protein structure and function. He then served as a Postdoctoral Scholar in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center from 2009 to 2010 before joining the faculty there in August 2010.

The research program of Frank Hays centers on the biological roles of bioactive redox small molecules in human health and disease, integrating methodologies such as computational and structural biology, protein biochemistry, food chemistry, in vitro and in vivo bioassays, zebrafish genetics, database development, and compositional analysis of foodstuffs. Active projects include the development of a nitrate and nitrite composition database for foods and supplements, elucidation of the p66Shc adaptor protein's functions in ischemia-reperfusion injury, wound healing, organ transplantation, metabolic disorders, myocardial infarction outcomes, and diabetic nephropathy, and investigations into tetraspanin integral membrane proteins' roles in vascular inflammation and membrane microdomains. Hays has authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, including "Tetraspanin-enriched membrane domains regulate vascular leakage by altering membrane cholesterol accessibility to balance antagonistic GTPases" (Nature Cardiovascular Research, 2025), "Exploring the Gut-Mitochondrial Axis: p66Shc Adapter Protein and Its Implications for Metabolic Disorders" (International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2024), "Dietary Nitrate from Plant Foods: A Conditionally Essential Nutrient for Cardiovascular Health" (Advances in Nutrition, 2023), "p66Shc in Cardiovascular Biology" (Cells, 2022), "Nitrate and nitrite quantification in U.S. vegetable-based baby foods and infant formula via ozone chemiluminescence" (Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 2025), and "Imatinib binding to human c-Src is coupled to inter-domain allostery and suggests a novel kinase inhibition strategy" (Scientific Reports, 2016). His scholarship has garnered over 3,300 citations, contributing substantially to advancements in cardiovascular health, diabetes research, and nutritional biochemistry. Hays received the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the NIH during his postdoctoral training.