Scott Willis
I joined the Leicester Lifestyle and Health Research Group as a Research and Teaching Fellow in 2025. My research broadly focuses on exercise physiology, nutrition, and metabolic health. I investigate novel mechanisms linking obesity to related metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), and explore how lifestyle and pharmacological interventions can prevent, manage, and treat these diseases.
I completed my PhD at Loughborough University in 2020, and spent five years there as a Research Associate in Exercise, Nutrition, and Obesity-related Chronic Disease as part of the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre.
Favourite way to be active
Resistance training, CrossFit (or similar functional training), and Parkrun
Contact
Research Areas
Exercise Physiology
Nutrition
Metabolism
Obesity
Type 2 Diabetes
MASLD
Current Projects
OPAL - Investigating and Optimising Physical Function with Weight Loss: A Multi-Arm Open Label Adaptive Platform Trial.
The role of ectopic lipid quantity and quality (composition) in obesity-related chronic diseases.
The interaction between lifestyle, genetics, and ethnicity in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).
The relationship of cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour with adipose tissue insulin resistance and metabolic health.
Hepatokines as novel mechanisms linking obesity-related liver disease and metabolic dysfunction: the influence of exercise and diet.