Seminars

Dr Mark Petticrew MRC Social and Public Health Science Unit, University of Glasgow.

International Symposium, 15th August 2005
“Housing, Urban regeneration, Inequalities and Public Health”

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2004

7th International Seminar November 24, 2004
Physical Activity and depression: the latest evidence
Private and public partnership to promote physical activity: Do 1.3 million pedometers in cereal boxes make a difference?

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2003

Date: November 18, 2003
Location: Sydney University
This seminar will focus on distilling the evidence on the health benefits of physical activity from one of the world’s leading epidemiologists (Dr Steven Blair, Cooper Institute, Dallas), hear about trends in physical activity in Canada and globally (Cora Craig, Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute, Ottawa Canada) and hear about how to implement effective community-wide and intersectoral programs to increase physical activity (Dr Reger, from West Virginia University). Overall, a rare opportunity for those interested in physical activity and health in Sydney to hear from three remarkable speakers.

Date: 21 February 2003
Location: Cancer Council of NSW
Dr Larry Frank, Professor of Urban Design at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, delivered a seminar titled 'Physical activity and the urban environment' to an audience of physical activity researchers, academics and practitioners. Dr Frank’s seminar underscored the link between the built environment and physical activity patterns, particularly the interaction between land use, travel behaviour, air quality and public health.

The seminar highlighted the importance of matching complete and detailed data on the built environment with the physical activity and/ or travel patterns data when examining possible relationships in the urban context.

Dr Frank specializes in the interaction between land use, travel behaviour, air quality, and public health. Dr Frank is the principal investigator of a 4-year research program based in Atlanta known as SMARTRAQ - or Strategies for Metropolitan Atlanta’s Regional Transportation and Air Quality funded by the US Department of Transportation, Georgia DOT, Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Turner Foundation, and the Environmental Protection Agency which through extensive land use, travel behavior, and physical activity data collection will test the relationships between time use, physical activity patterns, travel choice, urban form, and air quality.

Dr. Frank is Co- PI on an NIH funded project with Dr. James Sallis (PI) and Dr. Brian Saelens (Co-PI) based in the Central Puget Sound and Baltimore to test the effects of the built environment on physical activity patterns. Dr. Frank has authored numerous papers and reports on these and other topics.

In recent years his work has been featured in the NY Times, Washington Post, and the popular U.S. National Public Radio (NPS) show weekend edition. Island Press will be publishing a book that he, Peter Engelke (of Georgia Tech) and Dr. Tom Schmid of the U.S. Center’s for Disease Control and Prevention recently completed titled, Public Health and Community Design, The Impacts of The Built Environment on Physical Activity.

Date: July 10, 2003
Location: Sydney University
Dr Ron Plotnikoff - The Use of Health Promotion Theory in Promoting Physical Activity. Associate Professor Ron Plotnikoff PhD (Univ Newcastle) , University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, on theories and models for behaviour change and their application to physical activity.

2002

Date: August 14 at 5 pm
Location: Sydney University
Dr Catrine Tudor-Locke - "The Art and Science of Using Pedometers for Measurement and Motivation".

Date: 11 July 2002
Location: School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW
Visiting Professor Marcia Ory delivered the CPAH inaugural seminar about Active for Life, a 4-year initiative supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that seeks to increase the number of American adults age 50 and older who engage in regular physical activity. The $8.7 million grants program provides technical assistance and support for up to eight grants, for four years, to assess the effectiveness of interventions to promote physical activity in the general population of older persons who are at health risk because of their sedentary lifestyles.

Marcia Ory was formerly Chief, Behavioral Medicine and Public Health, National Institute on Aging, is now Professor, School of Rural Public Health and Director of a RWJF Active for Life National Program Office at The Texas A&M University System Heath Science Center. She provides scientific leadership for the Behavioral Change Consortium, a multi-site NIH effort to examine the impact of different social and behavioral interventions on three key health behaviors (physical activity/exercise, tobacco use, and nutrition/dietary practices).

Her main areas of interest include health promotion and aging, with special emphasis on lifestyle programs for older adults. She has been the author of numerous books and articles on a variety of topics including self-care in later life, family care giving and dementia care, aging and formal health care, and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.