Peter M. Douglas was born in San Antonio, TX, and lived in Dallas, TX, Chapel Hill, NC, and St. Louis, MO, before receiving his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Peter earned his PhD from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. As a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Douglas Cyr, Peter used different methods in biochemistry, genetics, and cell biology to understand the mechanisms by which protein homeostasis machinery detoxifies misfolded, aggregation-prone proteins. During this time he was awarded a predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association. 

Peter completed his postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. Andrew Dillin at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, CA, and the University of California in Berkeley, CA. During this time he was awarded fellowships from the National Institute of Health on the Neuroplasticity of Aging and the George E. Hewitt Medical Foundation. He also received a Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) from the National Institute of Health.

In 2015, Peter joined the faculty at UT Southwestern Medical Center as an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Biology. Since joining, Peter has received numerous awards including the National Institute on Aging Award, Clayton Foundation for Research Award, Welch Foundation Award, American Federation of Aging Research (AFAR) Young Investigator Award, Texas Institute of Brain Injury Research (TIBIR) Pilot Award, Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging, and the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Scholar Recruitment of First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty Members Award.

Currently, Dr. Douglas is a faculty member of the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine (CRSM) in the Department of Molecular Biology and an integral part of the Genetics, Development and Disease (GDD), and Neuroscience Graduate Programs at UT Southwestern.