The Distinguished Lecture Series 2017 Wraps Up

The Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS) concluded Thursday afternoon at Rudder Theatre with hundreds of students, staff, and faculty in attendance. Twelve guest speakers within the health education, physical activity, and sport management fields presented and showcased their research throughout the two-day event.

DLS continues to serve as a platform for Texas A&M students to get a direct look into the trends and advances in the health and exercise industry. This year’s theme was “Health, Kinesiology, and Sport Management of Tomorrow: Directions, Innovation and Opportunities.”

“We’d like to thank our amazing lineup of speakers,” said professor and HLKN Department Head Dr. Rick Kreider. “Every year DLS gets bigger and better and this year was no exception.”

The first presenter to speak Wednesday was Dr. Damon Andrew from Louisiana State University. Dr. Andrew serves as Dean for the College of Human Sciences and Education and specializes in leadership in sport and the effective integration of individuals with disabilities in sporting environments. His presentation was on the importance of adopting a multidisciplinary approach in health and kinesiology.

Dr. K. Sreekumaran Nair spoke about the role of energy metabolism and protein turnovers in people with diabetes. Dr. Nair has been in the field of medicine for over 30 years and currently works in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

Dr. Paul Coates, Director of the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), spoke about the evaluation of dietary supplements. Dr. Coates specializes in dietary supplement research and the role that it plays in improving health. His data focused primarily on the U.S. population.

Wednesday’s final speaker was Dr. Chuck Greenberg. Dr. Greenberg is the General Partner and CEO of the Firsco RoughRiders (MiLB). With over two decades of franchise operation experience, Dr. Greenberg has worked at the major league and minor league levels and specializes in sport marketing and promotions.

Each presentation ended with a brief Q&A session where audience members could send in questions via Twitter to the speakers.

Dr. Philip Calder from the University of Southampton began Thursday’s presentations. Dr. Calder is a professor of nutritional immunology and specializes in nutrition and immune function as well as the influence that dietary fatty acids have on the body. He spoke about key fat controllers of inflammation within the body.

Dr. Michael Delp, professor and dean of the College of Human Sciences at Florida State University (FSU), spoke about potential hurdles in the upcoming space race and the role that cardiovascular health plays. Dr. Delp specializes in aging and exercise training and the effects of microgravity on microvascular control mechanisms in the brain. He has tested his research in his lab by using exercise training to investigate the effects of high levels of physical activity on cardiovascular function.

Dr. Steven Sussman from the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine discussed addiction prevalence and co-occurrence regarding alcohol and team sports. Dr. Sussman specializes in multiple substance and behavioral addictions research, and translation of programming (both Type 1 and Type 2) and global translation of programming.

Dr. Michael Lewis is the president and founder of the Brain Health Education and Research Institute and specializes in brain health management. He founded the institute in late 2011 upon retiring as a Colonel after a distinguished 31 year career in the U.S. Army. His research has helped thousands of people — including veterans — on fostering proper brain health, rehabilitation, and brain injury prevention.

Other speakers during the event included: Dr. David Allison from the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Public Health, Dr. Marc Roig from McGill University’s School of Physical & Occupational Therapy, Dr. Blake Rasmussen from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and Dr. Gareth Stratton from Swansea University’s School of Sport and Exercise Sciences.

More information about the event including the speaker list and presentation recaps can be found on the DLS website.