Katie Potter’s Research Featured in UMass Magazine Story “Just Add Dog”

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Katie Potter and doctoral candidate Colleen Sands bring Percy and Inja out to play behind their lab building.

Katie Potter, director of the Behavioral Medicine Lab and associate professor of kinesiology, is profiled in the Spring 2025 issue of UMass Magazine in a story titled "Just Add Dog."

The feature recounts how Potter’s journey began in grad school with the adoption of a pup named Chloe. 

“As someone studying kinesiology and behavioral health, Potter was more aware than most just how much her connection with Chloe improved her wellbeing. Time spent walking and playing with the sweet-tempered Chloe was also time that Potter spent being active and meeting new people in her neighborhood. On bad weather days, people without dogs can be tempted to stay inside in a cozy cocoon of home. But one look at Chloe’s innocent, black-and-white-splotched face had Potter pulling on her boots and reaching for a leash. Chloe also actively helped Potter once she started working in the Behavioral Medicine Lab at UMass, modeling new activity trackers, quality testing the lab treats, and reminding the team to stay in the moment and that, sometimes, you really just need to go for a walk. Potter was a doting pet parent but a scientist through and through.”

The feature recounts how, over the past five years, Potter and her lab member, doctoral candidate Colleen Sands ’25, have designed a series of observational studies to show how dog ownership affects/impacts physical activity levels, and the effects on specific health issues across the lifespan.

“When the bond is there, people will go to the end of the earth for their pet,” says Potter. It’s heartening to learn that bettering our pets’ lives can improve our own health and wellness too. And they don’t need you to go to the end of the earth for them—just to the end of the block. 

Read the full feature here.