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Help Make Duke a Healthier Place

Campus workshops to discuss employee, student and patient physical activity

Employees with the Duke Run/Walk Club stretch before a run on the Al Buehler Trail. Photos by Les Todd.
Employees with the Duke Run/Walk Club stretch before a run on the Al Buehler Trail. Photos by Les Todd.

Take a step toward creating a healthier Duke by attending the “Exercise is Medicine Colloquium: Ideas in Action” on Feb. 3.

Duke’s branch of Exercise is Medicine, a global health initiative managed by the American College of Sports Medicine, is organizing the colloquium. Breakout sessions in the Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans Center for Health Education will cover the Duke employee, student and patient audiences.

The day begins at 11:30 a.m. with a keynote address by NiCole R. Keith, professor of kinesiology at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis and president of the American College of Sports Medicine. Keith will discuss how to provide everyone with a fair opportunity to be as healthy as possible through physical activity.

Following the keynote, the community is invited to attend one of three breakout session workshops, each held from 1 to 3 p.m. 

Julie Joyner, director of LIVE FOR LIFE, Duke’s employee wellness program, and Nina Bartmann, senior behavioral researcher at Duke’s Center for Advanced Hindsight, will moderate “Employee Physical Activity Adoption Plan Development” to identify and eliminate barriers preventing employee physical activity.

“The biggest behavioral barriers preventing an employee from taking a walking or stretch break at work is the perception they aren’t hardworking if they step away from an assignment,” Bartmann said. “We’re going to discuss how we can create a culture that supports and encourages physical activity.”

Individuals interested in student wellness should attend the “Student Wellness Referral System Development” workshop. Felicia Tittle, executive director of Duke Recreation & Physical Education, will chair the discussion on creating a referral network between student health resources at Duke. 

Participants in the Duke Run/Walk Club run on the Al Buehler Trail.“The wellness of our students is vital to a healthy campus,” Tittle said. “Strategizing on how best to create a formal referral network will lead to an outcome that addresses the holistic wellness of our students.”

Sarah Armstrong, professor of pediatrics and professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, will lead the “Patient Physical Activity Prescription” for researchers and clinicians on how to connect patients with exercise. 

The Duke Exercise is Medicine Colloquium is offered this year in conjunction with the Duke Center for Research to Advance Health Equity. The program is financially supported by a Duke School of Medicine Interdisciplinary Colloquium Award, the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Duke Recreation & Physical Education.

Register here for a workshop. 

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