Physical Activity & Women's Health Lab
Department of Health and Human Physiology, University of Iowa
The overall mission of the Physical Activity and Women's Health Lab (PAWH) is to better understand the determinants and health effects of modifiable lifestyle behaviors (e.g., sedentary behavior, physical activity, sleep) to inform behavioral interventions to improve health outcomes in at-risk populations, including pregnant and postpartum populations, children, rural populations, and marginalized groups.
NEWS
ACSM Pregnancy and Postpartum Special Interest Group
Undergraduate student Puja Mekala presented her work on learning and applying research methods to score sleep actigraphy data in the perinatal period at the University of Iowa Summer Undergraduate Research Fair.
Dr. Whitaker served as guest-editor of a special issue topic in the Journal of Sport and Health Sciences on Physical Activity Epidemiology and published an editorial titled "Measurement, associations, patterns, and promotion: unveiling vital areas in physical activity epidemiology." See here to access the full issue.
Jackie Dziewior Borroman successfully defended her thesis. Her work was highlighted by CLAS in this recent article.
Congratulations to Postdoctoral Research Jacob Gallagher for securing a NIH-NHLBI funded 2-year diversity supplement to the Pregnancy 24/7 Offspring Study!
Postdoctoral Researcher Jacob Gallagher won the three-minute rapid fire oral abstract presentation competition at the AHA|Epi Lifestyles conference in Chicago in March 2024. Congratulations Jacob!
A new pediatric play lab opened as part of the Child Life and Therapeutic Recreation Program and was featured here. Ongoing research in this space includes Dr. Whitaker's Pregnancy 24/7 Offspring Study.
Congratulations to PhD Student JP Marrero-Rivera at the University of Pittsburgh for receiving a Diversity Supplement through the NIH-NHLBI to add cognitive assessments in 24-month old children in the ongoing Offspring Study.
Dr. Whitaker presented at the North American Artery Conference in June 2023 on sedentary behavior, physical activity, and risk of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
Dr. Whitaker and her team were awarded a R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study associations of sedentary behavior, physical activity, and sleep in pregnancy with offspring growth and cardiovascular health in a 5-year multi-site observational cohort study called the Offspring Study
Raegan Krumboltz and Asel Nasr presented their research projects at the 2023 Spring Undergraduate Research Festival.
Jackie Dziewior was awarded an American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship for her dissertation project, titled "Remote postpartum intervention targeting movement behaviors after hypertensive disorders of pregnancy." Congratulations Jackie!
Congratulations to the students who presented Pregnancy 24/7 data at the 2022 MWACSM Conference in Indianapolis! Jackie Dziewior presented a poster on depression and sleep. Ti Hsu gave an oral presentation on neighborhood environment and physical activity and won the outstanding doctoral student oral presentation.
Dr. Melissa Jones presented a poster on pulse wave velocity assessment in children ages 2-3 at the 2022 ACSM Conference in San Diego. Dr. Whitaker gave an oral presentation on the primary findings from the INcreasing Steps in PREgnancy (INSPiRE) study.
Dr. Whitaker received the Gerry Sue Arnold Alumni Award from the University of South Carolina. This award is for Alumni who graduated within the last 10 years and whose work has made a difference to the profession and in the health of an identified community or population.
Dr. Whitaker named one of two Early Career Scholars of the Year at the University of Iowa.
Congratulations to Dr. Melissa Jones on the recent acceptance of a faculty position at Oakland University!
Dr. Whitaker named Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and Fellow of the American Heart Association: https://now.uiowa.edu/2021/12/whitaker-named-acsm-aha-fellow
Dr. Whitaker's Pregnancy 24/7 study featured by the University of Iowa's College of Public Health https://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/news-items/iowa-researchers-receive-3-5m-grant-to-study-hypertensive-disorders-of-pregnancy/ and by CLAS https://clas.uiowa.edu/news/pregnancy-247-kara-whitaker-awarded-35-million-study-impact-sedentary-behavior-pregnancy
Dr. Whitaker's research team was awarded a R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study associations of sedentary behavior, physical activity, and sleep with adverse pregnancy outcomes in a 5-year multi-site observational cohort study called Pregnancy 24/7
PhD Candidate Piroska Boros was recognized in the International Accents column of International Programs at the University of Iowa. https://international.uiowa.edu/news/bridging-passion-and-purpose-journey-hungary
MS Thesis student Madeline Lawrence was awarded the University of Iowa Student Impact Grant to study women's experiences of best rest during pregnancy. Congratulations Madeline!
PhD Candidate Minsuk Oh was awarded the University of Iowa Dissertation Writing Fellowship where he will examine associations of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and fitness on cardiac adiposity. Congratulations Minsuk!
Dr. Whitaker's research team was awarded a grant from the Fraternal Order of Eagles to develop an mHealth physical activity intervention during pregnacy.
The University of Iowa was recognized at the ACSM conference for earning gold status for their Exercise Is Medicine program.
Dr. Whitaker presented her research on weight gain, physical activity, and nutrition in women pregnant with twins at the ACSM conference in May, 2019, and joined the pregnancy and postpartum special interest group.
Undergraduate Research Assistant, Hailee Talbot presents her work at the University of Iowa Spring Undergraduate Research Festival.
