Dr. Somers is an expert on research into the body’s responses to burns, traumatic injuries, and surgery. As a program director at NIGMS, he administers research and training grants that examine these responses at all levels--from molecular and cellular changes to the body-wide reactions seen in critically ill patients (systemic inflammation, hyper-metabolism, shock, sepsis, and multiple organ failure). He currently serves as the program director for an NIGMS-funded cooperative agreement (“glue grant”) titled "Inflammation and the Host Response to Injury."
Before joining NIGMS in 1995, Somers was an NIH-funded researcher at the James N. Gamble Institute for Medical Research in Cincinnati, Ohio; the University of California at Davis; and the Duke University Medical Center. He has a long-standing interest in macrophage function and inflammation. He was a reviewer for several journals and has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles as well as various book chapters.