Physical Activity and Health Promotion (PAHP) Research Laboratory
Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences
Virginia Commonwealth University
The mission of the Physical Activity and Health Promotion Laboratory is to study lifestyle behaviors focusing on physical activity and sedentary behaviors as primary and secondary prevention of chronic health conditions in diverse population groups. Our goals are to conduct high-quality empirical research, disseminate the scientific findings to public, and translate the findings into practice.
Undergraduate and graduate students who are self-motivated and interested in studying behavioral epidemiology of physical activity, please contact Dr. Kim at kimy13@vcu.edu.
News & Highlights
March 2024
Our 2nd year doctoral student, Jisu Kim, has been awarded an American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Foundation doctoral student research grant for her study "Association between rest-activity rhythm and frailty in the elderly: Exploring the role of social determinants of health.". Jisu will examine the rest-activity circadian rhythm as a potential predictor of a critical aging-related health problem, frailty, while exploring the role of social determinant factors throughout the ongoing research project, Healthy Aging Study, under mentorship of Drs. Kim and Kirkman in the KHS department. Congratulations Jisu!!
Our 4th-year doctoral student, Jonathan Kenyon, has successfully defended a dissertation proposal entitled "Compositional Data Analysis of 24-hour Movement Behaviors in Adults with Heart Failure." Jonathan's project will leverage the world's largest biomedical data, the UK Biobank, to elucidate the important connections between 24-hour movement behaviors and clinical/fitness outcomes among heart failure patients. Congratulations, Jonathan!
January 2024
We welcome Nick Griepentrog, a new undergraduate student, who is joining us as a student intern for Spring 2024. Shafia, James, Justin, and Ridge will continue working with us.
October 2023
Dr. Kim is a co-investigator of the research project recently funded by the Department of Defense ($1.5M), studying the efficacy of non-pharmacological treatments for insomnia among patients with brain cancer. Dr. Kim and the PAHP team will provide expertise in assessing objectively measured sleep health using an accelerometer during the course of the project.
August 2023
We welcome four undergraduate students (James, Justin, Helen) and one graduate student (Ridge) who have joined us as student interns for Fall 2023. Shafia will continue to work with us on her research project. Additionally, we welcome a new member, Zainlab, who recently graduated with a B.S. in Kinesiology and Health Sciences from the College of William and Mary. She will be a volunteer research intern for Fall 2023. Welcome, everyone!
June 2023
Dr. Kim is appointed to serve as a 3-year term Section Editor in the Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science (MPEES) journal.
Dr. Kim's and graduate student's offices are moved to the 6th floor of the new STEM building. The PAHP research lab will remain in the 500AC building.
May 2023
Leena Kethu, an HPEX undergraduate student, has joined the lab for a summer internship. Leena will be assisting with data collection for an ongoing research project involving patients with heart failure. We warmly welcome Leena to the team!
VCU PAHP team successfully presented the research at 2023 ACSM conference in Denver, CO.
April 2023
Jonathan, Jisu, and Arby made an excellent research presentation at the KHS Student's Research Day!
Arby made a poster presentation in the VCU Undergraduate Research Symposium. Well done Arby!
Shafia Khan, HPEX undergraduate student in Health Science, received the VCU First Generation Emerging Scholars Fellowship! Shafia will work with Dr. Kim for a research project entitled "Examining Health Risk Behaviors Among Adolescents from Immigrant Families: Exploring the Moderating Role of Socio-Demographic Characteristics".
Dr. Kim is appointed to the Research Review Committee in the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). Dr. Kim will begin his service from 6/1/2023 and continues through 5/31/2026.
March 2023
Three abstracts are accepted for a poster presentation at the 2023 ACSM Annual Meeting in Denver, CO.
Jonathan - Cardiorespiratory Fitness And The Reallocation Of Time Between Daily Movement Behaviors In Heart Failure
Jisu - Validity Of The Actigraph GT9X Accelerometer For Measuring Step-counts And Energy Expenditure In Patients With Heart Failure
Dr. Kim - Comparison Of Subjectively And Objectively Measured Sleep-Wake Patterns Among Patients With Primary Brain Cancer
January 2023
Arbi, Tasnim, and Zeleiyah will continue the undergraduate student internship with us!
September 2022
Four undergraduate student interns joined the lab this semester. Welcome Arbi, Tasnim, Zeleiyah, and Venus!
August 2022
Nathan successfully completed undergraduate internship with us during the Summer. Well done Nathan!
Two new doctoral students joined the lab. Welcome Jisu and Rossie!!
July 2022
Dr. Kim is tenured and promoted to an Associate Professor.
May 2022
Dr. Kim and Jonathan attended the 2022 ACSM Annual Convention, San Diego, CA. Jonathan made an excellent presentation during a thematic poster session (Project title: "Prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and risk factors among breast cancer survivors: Findings from NHANES"). Well done Jonathan!
April 2022
Undergraduate intern, Arbi Azabi, is awarded with the 2022 the VCU Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship Summer Fellowship. Arbi will conduct a research project entitled "Social and Neighborhood Characteristics Correlated to Active Living Among Older Adults: Focusing on Rural-Urban Differences" throughout the systematic review of the literature and secondary data analysis. Well done Arbi!
March 2022
Doctoral student, Jonathan Kenyon, is awarded with the 2022 ACSM Foundation Doctoral Research Grant for his research proposal entitled "Sedentary Behavior, Physical Activity, Sleep, and Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Heart Failure: 24-h Movement Behaviors". Great Job Jonathan!!
January 2022
Maddy Theal, a senior HPEX major, has joined the group as an undergraduate intern. Welcome Maddy!
November 2021
We are currently seeking a motivated Doctoral Student starting from Fall 2022. More details of this opportunity is available from here.
October 2021
Dr. Kim received the CCTR Endowment grant from the Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research at VCU for a project entitled "Development and evaluation of a theory-driven, wearable-technology facilitated intervention to promote adherence to home-based cardiac rehabilitation among underserved patients with heart failure: A pilot study." (link).
A doctoral student, Jonathan Kenyon, made a research presentation entitled "Physical activity, sedentary time and cardiorespiratory fitness in patients with heart failure: Isotemporal substitution analysis" (link) in the 8th International Society for Physical Activity and Public Health.
August 2021
Undergraduate student, Pradhumna Poudyal, joined the group as an undergraduate intern. Welcome Prad!
April 2021
Dr. Kim presented a research poster entitled "Subjective social status and health-related quality of life among middle-aged and older women: Role of leisure-time physical activity" (link) in the 2021 SHAPE-America Virtual National Convention.
Undergraduate students, Chelsea and Nikita, presented research posters in the VCU Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Chelsea - "Systematic review of screen time media usage among the older adult population" (link)
Nikita - "Systematic review of social capital on physical activity levels in older adults" (link)
A doctoral student, Jonathan Kenyon, presented a research poster entitled "Validity of the ActiGraph GT9X accelerometer step-count function in adults with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction" in the VCU Graduate Research Symposium.
August 2020
Mr. Jonathan Kenyon joined the lab as a Ph.D. student supported by departmental teaching assistantship.
September 2019
Dr. Kim joined the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at VCU. He previously served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Sports Management at Texas Tech University since 2014.