Adelphi’s Exercise Science program takes a truly student-centered approach to its scholarship. In addition to our own research lines, faculty members work collaboratively with graduate students to design research projects in the student’s area of interest and guide them through the process of pilot testing, gaining IRB approval, as well as data collection and analysis. The majority of these projects go on to be presented, not only at the Exercise Science program’s Annual Research Symposium, but also at the American College of Sports Medicine’s Annual Meeting, which is widely considered to be the most comprehensive sports medicine and exercise science meeting in the world. Since coming to Adelphi in 2013, I have been a part of over sixty refereed presentations at this meeting as both a primary and co-investigator. Additionally, for highly motivated students, faculty members also assist in manuscript preparation and submission to peer-reviewed journals for publication. While collaborating with students to this degree can be challenging due to the time-consuming nature of the work, it is the program’s belief that immersing graduate students in the research process allows them to make a more meaningful connection to their academic work and helps to maximize their time at Adelphi. As a member of the Exercise Science program, I have worked simultaneously on multiple collaborative projects to include colleagues and students. The interactive focus of Adelphi’s Exercise Science program to engage students in research and presentations aligns well with the university’s mission statement regarding student success and its commitment to High Impact Educational Practices, which is something that I look forward to continuing for years to come.
Since gaining tenure in 2019, I feel that my research agenda has continued to grow as I have focused on finding interesting research topics that reflect my combined interests in fitness, strength and conditioning, and rehabilitation. My specific lines of research are in the areas of resistance training and its application to various populations, as well as in the biomechanical analysis of resistance training exercises. Since 2019, I have been heavily involved in both the design and implementation of many research projects spearheaded by our Exercise Science program and the Human Performance Laboratory that have resulted in seven peer-reviewed publications and seventeen presentations at national-level conferences not only for myself, but also for several of my colleagues and many of our graduate students as well. We have been able to do this in spite of the pandemic, forcing us to shut our lab down for a prolonged period of time and hindering our ability to conduct research involving human subjects. In this section, I will outline my work since gaining tenure as it relates to relevant publications and presentations within my field. Please see my curriculum vitae for information regarding all the projects I have worked on over the past several years.
I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to collaborate with my colleagues from NYIT’s Doctoral Physical Therapy program on a number of projects over the course of the past several years. In 2020, my colleagues and I published an article in Physiotherapy Theory and Practice which examined the effects of blood flow restriction training on a recreationally active subject with Parkinson’s Disease. This project aligns well with my line of research as blood flow restriction training is a modified form of resistance training and has become a topic of interest in the worlds of rehabilitation and sports performance in recent years. Our study was the first to apply this modality to a person with Parkinson’s Disease. I was heavily involved in both the data collection and manuscript preparation on this project. I was also asked by my colleagues to present our findings in the fall of 2022 at the 22nd Annual Patricia Leahy Memorial Lecture at St. Joseph’s University. The lecture recruited researchers from across the country to discuss blood flow restriction training for individuals with neurological diagnoses.
Additionally, my colleagues from NYIT and I have also recently completed our data collection on a large-scale survey study with over 600 responses nationwide which looks to gauge the impact that the pandemic has had on students’ perception of their graduate physical therapy education. We recently presented our findings at the American Physical Therapy Association’s Educational Leadership Conference. In addition to our recent presentation, my colleagues and I have completed the manuscript for this project and have submitted it for review to the Journal of Allied Health.
In addition to my work with our Exercise Science graduate students and my colleagues at NYIT, since gaining tenure in 2019, I have collaborated with several of my colleagues from within the Department of Health and Sport Sciences. I was fortunate enough to collaborate with Dr. Emilia Zarco on three different projects related to Essentrics exercise. In all three of these projects, I was heavily involved in the research design, data collection, analysis of the data, as well as manuscript preparation. Essentrics is a novel exercise modality that focuses on dynamic stretching exercises performed in series. Our research in this area was the first to examine its impact on strength, flexibility, and body composition, as well as the perceived benefits of Essentrics for older adults. We also published a third paper together in 2022 that provided an overview of the potential benefits of Essentrics exercise for older adults.
Additionally, since gaining tenure in 2019, I have spent a lot of time collaborating with my colleague Dr. Mike Aquino. Mike was hired as an Assistant Professor in the Exercise Science program in 2018, and he has been a tremendous addition to our faculty. One of my goals after gaining tenure was to work closely with Dr. Aquino on his research agenda to help him develop his research line and build a strong case for his own tenure. My collaboration with Dr. Aquino has resulted in multiple publications with several more that are still in development. In 2020, Dr. Aquino and I published a case report in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies on a novel exercise approach to improving bone mineral density in a postmenopausal female with a history of osteoporosis. Dr. Aquino and I also published a narrative review in 2022 in Biomechanics that examined the impact of fatigue on performance. My primary role in both of these publications was in manuscript preparation and revision.
Dr. Aquino and I also recently published a manuscript in the International Journal of Exercise Science which explores the impact of topical CBD supplementation on delayed onset muscle soreness. This project also aligns well with my line of research as delayed onset muscle soreness is often a by-product of novel resistance training exercise and CBD supplementation has been purported to have the potential to mitigate its severity. This research was conducted in collaboration with our former graduate assistant, Anastasia Alpy. Dr. Aquino and I guided her through all stages of the research process, from literature review and IRB proposal, to data collection and analysis and manuscript preparation. I presented our findings at the American College of Sports Medicine’s (ACSM) Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado this past June.
Another one of our projects that we presented at the most recent ACSM Annual Meeting was conducted in collaboration with another one of our former graduate assistants, Angelo Gaeta. This research examined differences in kinematics and kinetics between the barbell hip thrust and a machine-based hip thrust exercise. This work builds on my previous biomechanical research, which was published in the Journal of Exercise Physiology Online in 2016. Similar to our previous work with Anastasia, Dr. Aquino and I guided and assisted Angelo and his colleagues through all phases of the research process. We are currently in the process of writing the manuscript for this project.
Similarly, I am currently in the process of working on several exciting projects that are in various stages of development. Most notably, through my physical therapy practice, I have been able to develop a relationship with Northwell Health's Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. I collaborated with their research team to help them develop a resistance training protocol that can be safely implemented with seniors who have mild cognitive impairment. Similar to my previous work in the area of Parkinson’s Disease, this project aligns well with my research line as it examines the impact of resistance training on a novel population. I have spent a considerable amount of time since August 2017 collecting data related to this project in conjunction with the Feinstein Institute's research team at the Bristal Assisted Living in Lake Success. I presented our pilot data at the American College of Sports Medicine’s Annual Meeting in 2019. At this point, we are in the final stages of manuscript preparation in which I am the lead author. My hope is that this manuscript will be published in a high-impact journal and will result in more collaborative research between our program and the Feinstein Institute in the future.
Since gaining tenure in 2019, I have continued to be an active participant in the research process and have further developed my lines of research despite my significant teaching and advising loads and the complications of conducting human subjects research brought on by the pandemic. Throughout this time, I have focused the majority of my efforts on collaborating with colleagues both at Adelphi as well as from other institutions in contributing positively to the growing body of evidence in the exercise and rehabilitative fields. However, I think my most significant scholarly contribution since gaining tenure has been in the amount of time I have spent mentoring our graduate students through the research process. I feel that my collaborative approach to scholarship helps to reinforce and enhance my teaching while also aligning well with the university’s commitment to student success. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with my colleagues and students in the years to come and to continue to contribute positively to the body of literature in my field.