Kathleen Woolf

Dr. Kathleen Woolf focuses her work on the integrated role of nutrition and physical activity for lifelong health throughout the lifespan. For both individuals and populations, nutrition and physical activity contribute to overall quality of life and play major roles in protecting health and delaying the progression of disease. Hippocrates wrote: “If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.” Her research is multi-dimensional, involves human participants, and responds to key health and nutrition concerns of high priority in New York, the nation, and globally, supporting the current national dietary guidelines for nutrition (2010) and physical activity (2008). She has expertise in the assessment of nutrition and physical activity patterns (sedentary behaviors, physical inactivity, and physical activity) in healthy individuals (recreational/competitive athletes) and individuals with chronic disease (musculoskeletal, skin, & kidney disorders, obesity). Some of these studies have examined the health disparities experienced by individuals from different race and ethnic backgrounds, including Hispanic and Native American populations. She has designed and implemented randomized clinical intervention trials and is currently a co-investigator on a large Social Cognitive Theory-based behavioral intervention (diet, physical activity) using technology-based self-monitoring for patients with complex chronic disease.

Dr. Woolf has held leadership positions within the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics at the local, state, and national level. She is a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American College of Sports Medicine's Health and Fitness Journal. She has written a regular nutrition column for the USA Swimming magazine, SPLASH!, and has contributed to the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Preventive Medicine, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Topics in Clinical Nutrition, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Obesity, and Public Health Nutrition.

Dr. Woolf completed her bachelor’s degree in Food and Nutrition from Arizona State University and her dietetic internship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She holds a master’s degree in Nutritional Sciences from the University of California, Los Angles and a PhD in Exercise Science from Arizona State University.