Dr. Jon D. Hennebold is the Associate Director of Research for the Oregon National Primate Center and Professor in the Division of Reproductive & Developmental Sciences. He is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr. Hennebold’s team studies the events necessary for the function of the primate ovary to understand the causes of female infertility and to aid in developing novel contraceptives. His group is specifically interested in the molecular and cellular pathways that are critical for ovulation and the release of an oocyte capable of undergoing fertilization. His laboratory is also active in determining how the ruptured ovulatory follicle becomes the corpus luteum, which produces the steroid hormone progesterone that prepares the uterus for implantation if fertilization occurs and sustains pregnancy during the first trimester. Studies are underway in his laboratory that seeks to define how environmental factors, such as an obesogenic Western-style diet, alone or in combination with abnormal endocrine and metabolic processes, negatively affect ovarian function and fertility. His research in this area has revealed that the chronic consumption of a Western-style diet alone or in the presence of elevated circulating levels of testosterone, comparable to what is seen in women with polycystic ovary syndrome, alters ovarian function and reduces the ability of resident oocytes to develop properly after fertilization. Through his interest in assisted reproductive technologies and recently developed gene editing techniques, Dr. Hennebold’s laboratory also has several projects funded through foundations and the NIH to develop models of disease and to improve somatic cell gene editing approaches for their treatment.

He received his Ph.D. in the Division of Immunology & Cell Biology at the Department of Pathology, University of Utah School of Medicine in 1996. Dr. Hennebold then conducted his postdoctoral training in reproductive sciences at the University of Utah Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. In 2000, he joined the ONPRC as a Staff Scientist and was promoted to Assistant Scientist in 2002. Dr. Hennebold has served as the Division Chief for Reproductive and Developmental Sciences from 2014 through 2022. Dr. Hennebold also served as the Interim Director of the ONPRC from November 2022 to August 2023, at which time he was appointed as the Associate Director of Research.