B.Sc. in Biology McGill University, Montreal, Canada 1968
Ph.D. in Human Genetics Queen's University, Kingston, Canada 1972
Postdoctoral Fellow University College London, MRC Human Biochemical Genetics Unit 1972–74
Postdoctoral Fellow in Department of Pediatrics Children's Hospital of Buffalo 1974–75

Dr. Coates is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) Foundation and is a Past President of ASN. He directed the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 1999-2018, in its mission to strengthen knowledge and understanding of dietary supplements. He established ODS as a strong and authoritative voice for rigorous science in dietary supplements and related areas of nutrition. ODS continues to address many of the key issues in dietary supplements, from critical evaluation of the literature to supporting and conducting research, and translating the results of that work into reliable and effective information for the public. His office was instrumental in incorporating evidence-based review strategies into the assessment of nutrient efficacy and safety (vitamin D, calcium, sodium, potassium, among others) and to inform the development of nutrient reference intake values for populations.

He was Acting Director of the NIH Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) from 2010-2012. He also served from 1996-1999 as Deputy Director of the Division of Nutrition Research Coordination (DNRC) at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). In that role, he helped to coordinate human nutrition research efforts, both at the NIH and between the NIH and other government agencies. He co-chaired the joint DHHS/USDA Steering Committee for the National Nutrition Summit, held in Washington in 2000. He was a member of the Federal Steering Committee developing the U.S./Canada Dietary Reference Intakes. He was Co-Executive Secretary of the Interagency Committee on Human Nutrition Research and Chair of the Federal Working Group on Dietary Supplements.

In 2011, he received the Conrad A. Elvehjem Award from the ASN for public service in nutrition. In 2013, he became a Fellow of the ASN. In 2022, he received the David Kritchevsky Career Achievement Award from the ASN. He has served in numerous roles on the ASN Board of Directors. He was lead editor of two editions of the Encyclopedia of Dietary Supplements and was associate editor of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Before joining the DNRC, he was NIDDK's Program Director for the Type 2 Diabetes Research Program (1993-1996) and Project Officer for the multi-center clinical study, Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (1994-1996). From 1994 until his departure from NIDDK in 1999, he maintained an active role in career development and fellowship training in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases.

Prior to his career at NIH, he was on the faculty of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as Research Professor of Pediatrics and Biochemistry/Biophysics. His major research efforts were in genetic disorders of human lipoprotein metabolism and mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation. He is the author of more than 180 publications and the editor of four books.

He did his postdoctoral training in the Department of Human Genetics and Biometry at University College London, England, after receiving his Ph.D. in human genetics from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. His undergraduate degree (B.Sc.) in biology was from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Scholarly Interest

• Dietary supplements and human health
• Biomarkers of nutrient intake and status
• Translation of nutrition research into public health and clinical policy

• Coates PM, Bailey RL, Blumberg JB, El-Sohemy A, Floyd E, Goldenberg JZ, Gould Shunney A, Holscher HD, Nkrumah-Elie Y, Rai D, Ritz BW, Weber WJ: The evolution of science and regulation of dietary supplements: past, present, and future. J Nutr 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.06.017 
  
• Taylor CL, Madans JH, Chapman NN, Woteki CE, Briefel RR, Dwyer JT, Merkel JM, Rothwell CJ, Klurfeld DM, Seres DS, Coates PM: Critical data at the crossroads: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey faces growing challenges. Am J Clin Nutr 117:847-858, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.03.007
• Fleischhacker SE, Woteki CE, Coates PM, Hubbard VS, Flaherty G, Glickman, DR, Harkin TR, Kessler D, Li WW, Loscalzo J, Parekh A, Rowe S, Stover PJ, Tagtow A, Yun AJ, Mozaffarian D: Strengthening national nutrition research: Rationale and options for a new coordinated federal research effort and authority. Am J Clin Nutr 112:721-769, 2020.
• Thomas PR, Haggans C, Coates PM: Dietary supplements. In: Present Knowledge in Nutrition, 11th ed (Birt D, et al, eds) Washington DC: ILSI Press, 2020, pp 567-584.
• Brown L, Coates PM: Addressing key knowledge gaps in nutrition research and the impact of funding priorities in human nutrition. In: Vitamin E in Human Health: Weber P, et al, eds), Cham Switzerland: Humana Press, 2019, pp 445-456.
• Brown LL, Cohen B, Tabor D, Zappala G, Maruvada P, Coates PM: The vitamin D paradox in Black Americans: a systems-based approach to investigating clinical practice, research, and public health. BMC Proceedings 12 (Suppl 6): 6, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12919-018-0102-4
• Shipkowski KA, Betz JM, Birnbaum LS, Bucher JR, Coates PM, Hopp DC, MacKay D, Oketch H, Welch C, Rider CV: Naturally complex: perspectives and challenges with botanical dietary supplement safety assessment. Food Chem Toxicol 118:963-971, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2018.04.007
• Saldanha LG, Dwyer JT, Bailen R, Andrews KW, Betz JW, Chang HF, Costello RB, Goshorn J, Hardy CJ, Pavel G, Pehrsson PR, Coates PM: Characteristics and challenges of dietary supplement databases derived from label information. J Nutr 148:1422S-1427S, 2018.
• Dwyer JT, Coates PM, Smith MJ: Dietary supplements: Regulatory challenges and research resources. Nutrients. 2018 Jan 4;10(1):41. doi: 10.3390/nu10010041.
• Durazo-Arvizu R, Tian L, Brooks S, Sarafin K, Cashman K, Kiely M, Merkel J, Myers G, Coates P, Sempos C. The vitamin D standardization program (VDSP) manual for retrospective laboratory standardization of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D data. J AOAC Int. 2017 Jul 18. doi: 10.5740/jaoacint.17-0196.
• Camp KM, Krotoski D, Parisi MA, Gwinn KA, Cohen BH, Cox CS, Enns GM, Falk MJ, Goldstein AC, Gopal-Srivastava R, Gorman GS, Hersh SP, Hirano M, Hoffman FA, Karaa A, MacLeod EL, McFarland R, Mohan C, Mulberg AE, Odenkirchen JC, Parikh S, Rutherford PJ, Suggs-Anderson SK, Tang WHW, Vockley J, Wolfe LA, Yannicelli S, Yeske PE, Coates PM: Nutritional interventions in primary mitochondrial disorders: developing an evidence base. Molec Genet Metab 119:187-206, 2016.
• Taylor CL, Roseland J, Coates PM, Pehrsson P: The emerging issue of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in foods. J Nutr 146:855-856, 2016.
• Boyles AL, Yetley EA, Thayer KA, Coates PM: Safe use of high intakes of folic acid: research challenges and paths forward. Nutr Rev 74:469-474, 2016.
• Ershow A, Goodman G, Coates PM, Swanson CA: Research needs for assessing iodine intake, iodine status, and the effects of maternal iodine supplementation. Am J Clin Nutr 104:941S-949S, 2016.
• Allison DB, Alpers DH, Astrup A, Bier DM, Bowman BA, Cashman KD, Coates PM, Fukagawa NK, Klurfeld DM, Mattes RD, Rimm EB, Uauy R: Introduction to the series "Best (but oft forgotten) practices". Am J Clin Nutr 102:239-240, 2015.
• Camp KM, Lloyd-Puryear MA, Groft SC, Parisi MA, Cederbaum S, Enns GM, Ershow AG, Frazier D, Gohagan J, Harding C, Howell RR, Korson M, Mulberg A, Regan K, Summar M, Venditti C, Vockley G, Watson M, Yao L, Coates PM: Expanding research to provide an evidence base for nutritional treatments and improved outcomes for inborn errors of metabolism. Molec Genet Metab 109:319-328, 2013.
• Rimmer CA, Phillips MM, Sander LC, Sharpless KE, Wise SA, Betz, Coates PM: Standard reference materials for dietary supplement analysis. Analyt Bioanalyt Chem, 405:4337-4344, 2013.