Dr. Bonita L. Marks, Ph.D., FACSM

Associate Professor and Director

Exercise Science Teaching Laboratory        

Department of Exercise and Sport Science

Fetzer Gym, CB# 8700, UNC-CH, 27599-8700

Office:  919-962-2260

marks@email.unc.edu

Professional Summary

Dr. Bonita L. Marks, an Associate Professor, has been at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 1996 within the specialization of Exercise Physiology. She is Director of the Exercise Science Teaching Lab and the Director of the Undergraduate Fitness Professional Track.  Dr. Marks holds Adjunct Associate Professor positions in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Department of Allied Health Sciences within UNC’s School of Medicine. She is also on the doctoral faculty for the Human Movement Sciences Program.  Her teaching responsibilities include undergraduate exercise physiology (EXSS 376/376L), graduate and undergraduate exercise prescription for healthy and clinical populations (EXSS 412, EXSS 781), practicum supervision (EXSS 379, EXSS 789), Advanced Topics in Exercise Physiology, Aging Segment (EXSS 784), Masters Thesis Advising and Research in Exercise and Sport Science (EXSS 990, EXSS 993). 

Dr. Marks completed her B.S. Degree in Health and Physical Education from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master’s Degree in Applied Physiology (Movement Sciences) from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City, and a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Marks completed a 1-year clinical post-doctoral appointment in the Department of Cardiology’s Exercise Physiology and Nutrition Lab at UMASS Medical School in Worcester where she was the project coordinator for a large women’s weight loss study investigating diet, aerobic exercise, and strength training.

During her sabbatical from UNC (2004-2006), Dr. Marks completed an NIH Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Duke’s Center for Aging and Human Development which culminated with a national neuroimaging junior investigator award from the New York Academy of Sciences, General Electric, and the American Federation for Aging for her research, Role of aerobic fitness and aging on cerebral white matter integrity. This lead to her UNC research,  The role of recreational sport participation on cerebral white matter integrity in older adults, funded by UNC’s Biomedical Research Imaging Center (BRIC) as well as funding from the College of Arts & Sciences Interdisciplinary Initiatives to create an older adult brain atlas for fiber tracking.  Dr. Marks also has funding from UNC’s Institute on Aging for research entitled, Instrument Validation of a Falls Risk Home Self-Assessment Tool. She retains collaborative ties with Duke University’s Center for Aging and the Duke VA Medical Center’s Gerofit Program, where she is a co-investigator on the research study, Walking in Elders: Metabolic and Biomechanical Contributions.

As a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and an ACSM-certified exercise specialist, Dr. Marks serves on the Credentialing Committee. She has also served on the Executive Boards of both the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast Regional Chapters of the ACSM. Locally, Dr. Marks is on the Advisory Board for the North Carolina Healthy Aging Network.

To learn more about Dr. Marks’, visit her personal website.

Publication and News