Staff

Susan L. Hughes, DSW

Susan L. Hughes, DSW, is Professor in the Division of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, and Co-Directs the Center for Research on Health and Aging at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has been Principal Investigator of several nationally significant studies. She developed and tested Fit and Strong!-an evidence-based, exercise/behavior change program for older adults with lower extremity osteoarthritis. Fit and Strong! has decreased participants' lower extremity pain and stiffness and increased their self efficacy for exercise and their participation in exercise over 12 months and received the 2008 American Society on Aging Pfizer Award. Dr. Hughes is currently testing different ways of bolstering maintenance of exercise after Fit and Strong! ends and is also testing the impact of two health promotion interventions with older adults in the workplace. She recently received funding from CDC to diffuse Fit and Strong! in Illinois and in North Carolina and is working with the National Arthritis Foundation to diffuse Fit and Strong! in four additional states. Dr. Hughes is also Principal Investigator of UIC's Midwest Roybal Center for Health Promotion and Behavior Change that is funded by the National Institute on Aging.

Rachel Seymour, PhD

Rachel Seymour, PhD, is a researcher and data analyst at the Center for Research on Health and Aging at the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She received her Bachelor's and Master's of Science in Gerontology at the University of Southern California before receiving her PhD from the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Seymour is a funded investigator (through the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) on three randomized trials studying community-based health promotion interventions for older adults, and co-investigator on a new dissemination and translation grant funded through CDC (1R18DP001140-01). With Dr. Susan Hughes, she is co-PI responsible for data analysis on a study funded by NIA to pool adherence data across eight funded maintenance of behavior change studies in order to study trajectories of behavior change, variability of trajectories across behaviors and populations, and the dose-response relationship between maintenance and health-related outcomes. Dr. Seymour will serve as co0investigator on a new initiative from CDC to diffuse Fit and Strong! into 2 Areas on Aging in Illinois and North Carolina and is working with the National Arthritis Foundation to diffuse Fit and Strong! in four Arthritis Foundation Chapters nationally. Her research interests include: scale development and psychometrics, statistical analysis, and evidence-based health promotion for older adults.

Pankaja (PJ) Desai, ABD, MPH, MSW

Pankaja (PJ) Desai, ABD, MPH, MSW serves as Project Manager on Fit and Strong!. She is a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health. Ms. Desai has been involved in Fit and Strong! since 2001. She assisted with the two randomized trials testing the efficacy and effectiveness of Fit and Strong! and now contributes to program dissemination efforts. Her research interests include physical activity behavior of older adults, transtheoretical model/ motivational interviewing/ telephone reinforcement, and the influence of physical activity on functioning and chronic diseases/ comorbidity.

Gail Huber, PT, PhD, MHPE

Gail Huber, PT, PhD, MHPE has been on the faculty at Northwestern University since 1988. She is an Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy in the Department of Physical Therapy and Human Sciences. She has been involved with Fit & Strong! since its inception and has contributed to development of the exercise program and training materials. Dr. Huber received her Masters of Health Professions Education and her doctoral degree in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago. In addition to training physical therapists, her research interests include physical activity for older adults, particularly those with arthritis and how physical activity affects function and reduces disability.

Cheryl Der Ananian, PhD

Dr. Cheryl Der Ananian, who has a PhD in Health Behavior, Education and Promotion and a Master's degree in Exercise Physiology, is a Co-Investigator on the dissemination of the Fit and Strong! program throughout Illinois and North Carolina. She will be assisting us with the qualitative evaluation of factors related to adoption and dissemination as well as with the evaluation of the program. Dr. Der Ananian's research interests pertain to physical activity and public health with an emphasis on physical activity and aging. She has a strong interest in the acquisition and maintenance of physical activity among older adults with chronic illnesses, as well as the health benefits of physical activity for older adults with chronic illnesses. She is particularly interested in the role of lifestyle changes (e.g., physical activity, nutrition and disease self-management strategies) in the secondary and tertiary prevention of chronic illnesses within older adults. Additionally, Dr. Der Ananian has a strong research interest in the translation of research to practice. She has research experience related to arthritis and physical activity in older adults. She has published research articles pertaining to what factors influence exercise adoption and maintenance in people with arthritis including a comprehensive review of the literature of the correlates of exercise within this population. Recently, she received a grant from the Midwest Roybal Center for Health Promotion to examine what factors influence exercise adoption and maintenance among African-Americans with arthritis, an area that has received little attention.