MATT KUCHAN, Ph.D.

Areas of Expertise: food and stress, nutrition impact on brain development & decline, lutein and vitamin E & infant brain development.

Matt Kuchan, Ph.D., is a senior principal discovery scientist in Research and Development and the global brain health lead for Abbott’s partnership with the Center for Nutrition Learning and Memory at the University of Illinois. He drives scientific discovery and research on the impact of nutrition on cognition and memory.

Matt oversees a global team of cognition experts who are studying nutritional compounds and their benefits to discover new uses and develop nutritional therapies that address health needs in children and adults. His research has focused on the role of lutein and vitamin E in brain development in babies and in cognitive decline in the elderly. 

Matt joined Abbott in 1993 and has held various roles in research and development in pediatric and adult nutrition. He assumed the Global Cognition Platform Lead and Science Lead and CNLM roles in 2011.

Matt earned his bachelor’s degree in Biology from Saint Louis University, an MS in Human Physiology from Illinois State University and his PhD in Nutritional Science from the University of Illinois followed by a Post Doctorate in Chemical Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University.