Dr. Jennifer Gay has been named as one of three Public Service and Outreach Faculty Fellows for 2018-2019. She will be partnering with UGA Marine Extension & Georgia Sea Grant in Brunswick to examine how much physical activity people get when volunteering for marine debris and litter cleanup, and to learn more about how to motivate runners, walkers, and those participating in other recreational activities along the coast to engage in marine debris and litter cleanup when they are in those spaces. More information can be found at the UGA Public Service and Outreach website. Congrats Dr. Gay!

Congratulations to Rhiannon Euhus, a recent PACE Lab graduate, for accepting a position with the Laura and John Arnold Foundation in Washington, DC as a Health Care Analyst starting in August. She will be reviewing policy grant applications and initiatives, and determining whether those proposals advance the organization’s health policy agenda. Congrats Rhiannon!

Dr. Jennifer Gay recently published results from a laboratory-based stair climbing study with adults at risk for pre-diabetes. A main finding is that short episodes of stair climbing (around 2-4 minutes) can lower blood sugar after eating for at least 30 minutes. Read more here.

Former PACE Lab member, Dr. Lindsay Prizer, has published work from her dissertation,  A Mixed-Methods Approach to Understanding the Palliative Needs of Parkinson’s Patients. Congrats Dr. Prizer!

Dr. Gay and the PACE Lab want to congratulate Ginny Lee Olivier and Rhiannon Euhus on graduating! The College of Public Health commencement was held at the Classic Center on Friday, May 4. We wish both of them the best in their future endeavors!

Catriona, a PACE Lab team member since August 2016, will be working at the NIH in the Human Cortical Physiology and Stroke Neurorehabilitation Section for this summer. This lab conducts research on health volunteers and stoke and traumatic brain injury patients using different stimulation, imaging, data analysis, and motor learning evaluation techniques. Catriona will be working specifically on a lab optimization project and an additional summer research project of her choosing. She will be returning to UGA in the fall where she will be working with us for her third and final year.

Ginny Lee Olivier, Rhiannon Euhus, and Catriona Geddes will present their research at the 2018 CURO Symposium today at the Classic Center. The three students will present findings from their original research study examining Vitamin D levels in African-American/Black College Women. The presentations are:

Rhiannon Euhus – The Effects of Studying Habits on Vitamin D Levels in Undergraduate Students

Ginny Lee Olivier – Outdoor Physical Activity in Relation to Vitamin D Status in African American College Women

Catriona Geddes – The Association between Knowledge of Vitamin D and Blood Levels of 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D among Black/African-American College Women

The PACE Lab is so excited and proud of these students for conceptualizing this study, coordinating all of the recruitment and data collection, and now sharing their findings!

This research was supported (in part) by a grant funded by the Department of Academic Partnerships and Initiatives in the Division of Student Affairs at the University of Georgia. 

Many congratulations to Dr. Erika Rees-Punia for successfully her dissertation this afternoon. Her study, “Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in the Cancer Prevention Studies” included three manuscripts; two assessing the reliability and validity of the Cancer Prevention Studies’ physical activity and sedentary behavior measures, and a third examining mortality risk reduction associated with sedentary behavior, light-intensity, and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity in the Cancer Prevention Studies cohort. Dr. Rees-Punia’s committee was chaired by Ellen Evans, and included Jennifer Gay (PACE Lab), Michael Schmidt, and Alpa Patel. Dr. Rees-Punia will continue her research as a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Alpa Patel at the American Cancer Society. Congratulations again to Dr. Rees-Punia!

Dr. Jennifer Gay, Director of PACE Lab, has been added to the faculty in the Institute for Artificial Intelligence at UGA. This affiliation allows her to mentor students and serve on committees within the Institute. Dr. Gay has collaborated with the Institute for Artificial Intelligence for several years, and has published three papers with other faculty and students there.

Today Marilyn Wolff defended her dissertation prospectus, titled, “Do Social Support and Physical Activity Impact Employee Job Stress, Burnout, and Well-Being?”. She plans to collect data from several hundred employees from the healthcare sector to examine the intersection of work and non-work social support and physical activity on employee health. Congratulations Marilyn!

A recent paper published by Dr. Jennifer Gay has been highlighted in the ASPPH Friday Newsletter. This study is part of a larger project examining the relationship between occupational physical activity and adiposity across a variety of labor sectors. Read the full article here!