Dr. Lora Giangregorio
Faculty: Kinesiology- University of Waterloo
Title: Associate Professor
CSEP member:
since 2000
What do you wish you had known when you were in graduate school?
How much I didn’t know (and still don’t).
What information/ advice did you learn in graduate school that has been most influential?
Ask an important research question, and answer it reliably
(Salim Yusuf). It is easy to get distracted by studies that are interesting, or
easy to do, but do not really move the field forward or address an important
problem OR are not rigorous enough to truly answer the question. Sometimes,
people collect data because they can, but not because they should. It is easy
to try to answer too many questions with one study, and then compromise the
study design such that you cannot reliably answer research questions that will
change the way people think about a problem.
Where do you think exercise physiology graduates are most needed?
I think they are most needed in primary care, or
environments focused on secondary prevention or rehabilitation (e.g., stroke
rehab, fracture clinics) to work in partnership with physicians to ensure
implementation of Canada’s Physical Activity Guidelines. However, they will
have to lobby our government to fund such a role.
Where do you see your overall area of research headed in the next 5 years?
The answer to this question often depends on the interests
of the trainees in the BonES lab, and what grants we secure. However, some of
the areas we are working on include:
- Physical activity in individuals with vertebral
fractures, including acute vertebral fractures.
- Understanding the interactions between weight
loss, muscle atrophy or sarcopenia and fracture risk, and how we can intervene
with nutrition or exercise or both.
- Effective implementation of exercise evidence
e.g., exercise vital sign in primary care, knowledge translation interventions.
Why is being a CSEP Academic Member Important to you?
CSEP does a great job in fostering the translation of
research to practice. I want to be a part of that, and learn from it.
CSEP Academic Member Guide