Samer Hattar (Arabic: سامر حتر) is a chronobiologist and a leader in the field of non-image forming photoreception.
He is best known for his investigation into the role of melanopsin and intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGC) in the entrainment of circadian rhythms.
He earned good grades in his classes and fell in love with biology when introduced to Mendel's pea plant experiments.
[1] Hattar completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Solomon Snyder Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he made discoveries on ipRGCs.
This observation, coupled with the discovery of melanopsin by Ignacio Provencio, led Hattar to hypothesize that this photopigment might be responsible for photoentrainment.