Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH
| Office Location | 903, Blockley Hall |
| Office Phone | 215-898-6604 |
| schmitz@mail.med.upenn.edu | |
Faculty Information | |
| CCEB Appointment | Senior Scholar, Epidemiology |
| Primary Faculty Appointment | Associate Professor of Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania SOM |
Additional Positions
Adjunct Associate Professor
Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota
Research Statement
Dr. Schmitz focuses her research on the role of physical activity on the etiology, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation from chronic diseases, with primary focus on obesity and cancer.
In her SHE trial (Strong, Healthy, and Empowered), Dr. Schmitz observed that twice weekly strength training was adequate to prevent age associated increases in % body fat and to attenuate age associated increases in intra-abdominal (visceral) fat among overweight and obese midlife women. These findings are of public health relevance in determining the dose of exercise needed to avoid age associated increases in obesity.
Her currently funded PAL (Physical Activity and Lymphedema) Trial (NCI R01-106851) is recruiting 288 breast cancer survivors who are 1-15 years out from diagnosis for a 2 group parallel design randomized controlled trial to assess the safety of twice weekly strength training for women with or at risk for lymphedema.
Dr. Schmitz has won multiple awards from the American Heart Association, including the Jeremiah Stamler Award for New Investigators and the Trudy Bush Fellowship for Cardiovascular Research in Women's Health.
Courses Taught
Epid 642 Cancer Epidemiology (Summer 2006)
Selected Publications
Most recent 8 publications:
1. K.H. Schmitz, R.L. Ahmed, P.J. Hannan, D. Lee. Safety and efficacy of weight training in recent breast cancer survivors to alter body composition, insulin, and insulin-like growth factors axis proteins. Cancer Epi Biomarkers and Prevention, 14(7):1672-1680, 2005.
2. K.H. Schmitz , J. Holtzman, K. Courneya, L.C. Masse, S.Duval, R. Kane. Controlled physical activity trials in cancer survivors: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Cancer Epi Biomarkers and Prevention, 14(7):1588-1595, 2005.
3. J. Audrain-McGovern, D. Rodriguez, E.P. Wileyto, K.H. Schmitz, P.G. Shields. Team Sport Participation Buffers the Effect of Genetic Predisposition on Adolescent Smoking. Archives of General Psychiatry. In press, 2006.
4. D.M. Murray, J. Stevens, P.J. Hannan, D.J. Catellier, K.H. Schmitz, M. Dowda, T.L. Conway, J.C. Rice, S. Yang. Factors that Affect Intraclass Correlation for Physical Activity in Sixth Grade Girls. Med Sci Sports Exerc. In press, 2006.
5. T. Ohira, K.H. Schmitz, R.L. Ahmed, D. Yee. Effects of Weight Training on Quality of Life in Recent Breast Cancer Survivors. The Weight Training for Breast Cancer Survivors (WTBS) study. Cancer. In press, 2006.
6. ED Parker, KH Schmitz, D Dengel, PJ Schreiner, DR Jacobs, Jr. Physical Activity in Young Adults and Incident Hypertension over Fifteen Years of Follow-up: The CARDIA Study. Am J Public Health. In press, 2006.
7. TP Olson, KH Schmitz, AS Leon, DR Dengel. Vascular Structure and Function in Women: Relationship with Elevated Body Mass Index. Am. J Preventive Medicine. In press, 2006.
8. RL Ahmed, KH Schmitz, K Anderson, W Rosamond, AR Folsom. The Metabolic Syndrome and Risk of Incident Colorectal Cancer. Cancer, In press, 2006.
