This course explores the evidence relating exercise and physical inactivity to heart disease, dementia, cancer, conditions of aging, and other chronic health conditions including obesity and diabetes. Students will learn to scrutinize mechanistic research conducted at the cellular anf physiological levels and also examine methodologic issues in the assessment, analysis, and interpretation of activity data in large populations while accounting for nutrition and other lifestyle exposures. The course emphasizes research used to create public health guidelines that will inform policies, programs, and clinical practice. Students will participate weekly in critical reviews of published research, write a mini-grant proposal, and complete a "field research" assignment highlighting new technology available in the mobile-health field. At the completion of this course, students will better understand principles of exercise physiology, chronic disease pathology, population health, and physical activity epidemiology. Students completing the course should be able to apply these principles to laboratory, clinical, or public health-based research. 2cr. Summer 1 (Elective)