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Lab Members

Sofiya Alhassan

Lab director, Sofiya Alhassan, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She completed her doctoral training at Auburn University in the area of Kinesiology and her postdoctoral training at Stanford University School of Medicine in cardiovascular disease prevention with an emphasize in community-base pediatric obesity prevention. Alhassan has research experience in the area of community-based physical activity interventions and physical activity assessment in low socioeconomic ethnic-minority children and preadolescents. Some of her past research studies involved 1) testing a policy base physical activity intervention in Latino preschool-age children and 2) examining the impact of an after-school afro-centric dance intervention to prevent excessive weight gain among low-income pre-adolescent African-American girls.  Her research is funded by NIH and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Active Living Research). She is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • Post-doctoral Fellowship, Stanford School of Medicine, 2007
  • PhD., Auburn University, 2004
  • M.S., Auburn University, 2000
  • B.S., Stetson University, 1996

Research Interest

  • Family-based physical activity interventions
  • Physical activity policy-base intervention in preschool-age children
  • Environmental and media influence on various health behaviors in ethnic-minority populations

Affiliations

  • American College of Sport Medicine
  • American Heart Association
  • Society of Behavioral Medicine
  • The Obesity Society
  • African-American Collaborative Research Network
Luke Sudarsky

Graduate Student Member
Masters Student
Department of Kinesiology
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Education

  • B.S., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2018

Research Interest

  • Pediatric Physical Activity
  • School based physical activity interventions

Affiliation

  • National Registry of EMTs
Althea Turley

MPH Graduate Student 

Wanjiang Zhou

Graduate Student Member

Masters Student

Department of Kinesiology

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Education

  • BEd., Huizhou University, 2011
  • MEd., Sun Yat-Sen University, 2014
  • CAGS., Springfield College, 2018

Research Interest

  • Physical activity and Secondary Schools 
  • Physical Activity Outcomes
Ann-Marie Sylvia

Graduate Student Member 

Education:

B.S. Bridgewater State University, 2018

M.S. Bridgewater State University, 2020

Research Interests:

Physical Activity for the prevention and treatment of disease

Affiliations:

American College of Sports Medicine 

Carl Marcelin

Undergraduate Student Member
Senior
Major: Kinesiology 

Garrett Berman

Undergraduate Student Member
Senior
Major: Kinesiology

Mikaela Hammond Holland

Undergraduate Student Member
Junior
Major: Kinesiology

Alexandra Miller

Undergraduate Student Member
Senior
Majors: Kinesiology/Member of Cmnwlth Honors Col

Alex Hoffman

Undergraduate Student Member 
Junior
Major: Kinesiology

Lucas Boucicaut

Undergraduate Student Member
Junior
Major: Kinesiology

Sarah Patrick

Undergraduate Student Member
Senior
Major: Kinesiology

Billy Bertheaud

Undergraduate Student Member
Senior
Major:Biology/ Kinesiology

Pamela Lalaj

Undergraduate Student Member
Junior
Major: Kinesiology

Carlie Mannai

Undergraduate Student
Junior
Major: Communication Disorders/ Member of Cmnwlth Honors Col

Obinnaya Okereke

Undergraduate Student Member
Sophomore 
Major:Biology