Professional Summary
Dr. Robert McMurray is currently Professor
of Exercise & Sport Science, Professor of Nutrition, Professor of Physical
Therapy, and Coordinator of the MA specialization in Exercise Physiology.
Dr. McMurray has been with the University for 28 years. Before coming to
UNC he worked as a swimming, soccer and lacrosse coach at Union College in
Schenectady, NY and at State University of New York at Oneonta, NY. He
completed his undergraduate education at the State University of New York at
Cortland, his MA degree at Ball State University under the direction of Dr.
David Costill, and his PhD at Indiana University. In addition, he has
completed post-doctoral experiences at the Institute of Environmental
Stress, Santa Barbara, California, the Metabolic Unit of St. Bartholomew’s
Hospital, London, Great Britain, and the Pediatrics Clinical Research Unit
of the University of California at Irvine Medical Center. He is the author
of over 120 refereed publications, 150 research abstracts, 7 book chapters,
and one book. He has served as a reviewer for a wide variety of exercise
and medical journals and was an Associate Editor for Medicine and Science in
Sports and Exercise. He is past-president of the Southeast Chapter of the
American College of Sports Medicine, and is a Fellow in the American College
of Sports Medicine. He has also served on the Executive Board for the North
American Society of Pediatrics Exercise Medicine. In addition to his
professional life, Dr. McMurray is an avid photographer, swimmer,
backpacker, and cyclist.
Dr. McMurray has taught a number of courses within the
Department, focusing on those related to physiology, nutrition, and exercise
physiology. He was instrumental in the development of the
Exercise Physiology Specialization of our MA program. He has
directed over 100 MA thesis and several doctoral dissertations in exercise
physiology related areas. He served as Director of the
Applied Physiology Laboratory from 1980 until 2000.
Dr. McMurray’s research career has incorporated many
areas of interest, which has resulted in collaborations with faculty in the
UNC Medical School, School of Nursing, Dental School, School of Public
Health, and Duke University Medical Center for studies on the effects of
exercise in various populations. His past research on exercise during
pregnancy was partially instrumental in the revisions of the Guideline for
Exercise during Pregnancy by American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
He is part of a research team that has been funded for fourteen years by the
National Institute for Nursing Research and NHLBI/ NIH, to develop
strategies for implementing cardiovascular disease risk reduction programs
in youth. The results of this project have already resulted in changes to
the State of North Carolina elementary school curriculum requirements for
physical education. He was Co-Principal Investigator on a four-year project
funded by NINR to measure metabolic rate in youth during a number of
activities. The project resulted in the development of a table of energy
expenditures that can be used by all investigators interested in youth. He
has received smaller awards to examine the effect of exercise on insulin,
leptin, and cytokines in obese children. He is presently an investigator on
three multi-site NIH funded trials. One trial is focusing on increasing
physical activity in adolescent girls, the second is a school-based diabetes
prevention program and the third is a study of the health and health
behaviors of Hispanic and Latino Adults. At the same time Dr. McMurray has
been involved with a project to reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors
in North Carolina Public Safety Officers. This project involved over 1600
law enforcement trainees across the state and has lead to the development of
an instructors’ manual for fitness programming for police departments.
Within all these projects, his research interest as been on the interaction
of obesity, endocrine system, and lifestyle diseases. He also has some
interest in the role of nutrition in optimizing exercise performance.
Thus, he has quite a varied research background.
Dr. McMurray's recent publications
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