Faculty Profile

I received a B.S. degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, M.S. from Springfield College (MA), and a doctorate from the University of South Carolina at Columbia, all  in  the  area of kinesiology/exercise  science. I also completed a post-doctoral  fellowship at  the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation in the area of neuroimmunology. I am currently a Professor of Health and Kinesiology with  additional appointments in the Division of Nutritional  Sciences and the Carle-Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My expertise is in exercise physiology, and more specifically the effects of exercise on the immune system, the gut microbiome and aging. I have mentored 30 graduate students, two post-doctoral fellows and have received campus recognition for guiding undergraduate research. I have authored more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and have been a principal or co-investigator on more than $22 million of funded federal and industry-sponsored research.