Special Interest Groups & Affiliate Societies

In This Section:

Special Interest Groups

ACSM offers 20 Special Interest Groups that cover diverse, high-level subjects ranging from Aging to Winter Sports Science. The groups are a forum for focused discussion, activity, and debate among members with similar, specific interests. Special Interest groups hold meetings, promote current news and research, share professional opportunities (including job openings, grant opportunities, and more), and connect ACSM members across the country and globe.

Special Interest Groups are free to join for ACSM members, including students. For information on a group's activities, contact the appropriate interest group leader(s) listed below. Ready to join an interest group of your choice?

Contact the Membership Department

Affiliate Societies

ACSM’s Affiliate Societies allows large specialty areas of professional interest to align directly with ACSM while being authorized to operate within broadly defined parameters. These groups also have operational and programmatic independence within those parameters.

While ACSM’s Interest Groups continue to act as more informal communities of professionals with common interests, the Affiliate Society model serves those few professional interest areas where there is a sizeable critical mass of members (and prospective members) who desire a more formal and active role in advancing the specialty area aligned with ACSM.

Students and current ACSM members (CEPA only) are eligible for discounted membership rates to affiliate societies. Get more information and learn how to join the following Affiliate Societies.

Clinical Exercise Physiology Association (CEPA)

CEPA advances the scientific an practical application of clinical exercise physiology for the betterment of the health, fitness, and quality of life for patients at high risk or living with a chronic disease.

International Association for Worksite Health Promotion (IAWHP)

IAWHP advances the global community of worksite health promotion practitioners through high-quality information, services, educational activities, personal and professional development and networking opportunities.

Aging

Aging Approved 5/97
Mission: To support and promote basic, applied and clinical research as well as education and certification in sports medicine and exercise science as it relates to aging.

Chair
Nancy Glynn, Ph.D.
Email: glynnn@edc.pitt.edu

Co-Chairs
Patricia Heyn, Ph.D.
Email: Patricia.Heyn@ucdenver.edu

Cody Sipe, Ph.D.
Email: srfitsolutions@yahoo.com
Biomechanics

Biomechanics Approved 6/95
Mission: To promote biomechanics research in the College through increased participation in the Annual Meeting and contributions to the various scholarly publications of the College.

Website: http://bigacsm.wordpress.com/

Chair
Joseph Seay, Ph.D.
Email: joseph.seay@us.army.mil

Co-Chairs
Allison Gruber, Ph.D.
Email: ahgruber@indiana.edu

Max Paquette, Ph.D.
Email: mrpqette@memphis.edu

Susan Sigward, Ph.D.
Email: sigward@usc.edu
Bone and Osteoporosis Network Exchange

Mission: To collate and translate the results of current research findings to other members of the college, to develop collaborative research groups with ACSM facilitating extensive multidisciplinary approaches to the study of bone health, to provide informed chairs to bone related professional societies and to develop recommendations for the prevention of osteoporosis.

Chair

Kathryn Ackerman, M.D., FACSM
Email: kathryn.ackerman@childrens.harvard.edu

Co-Chairs
Craig Sale, Ph.D., FACSM
Email: craig.sale@ntu.ac.uk

Vanessa Yingling, Ph.D., FACSM
Email: vanessa.yingling@csueastbay.edu
Cancer

Cancer Approved 6/01
Mission: To promote the study of physical activity/exercise and cancer among ACSM members and to provide a forum for interaction among members with this interest.

Facebook Page: https://facebook.com/pages/American-College-of-Sports-Medicine-Interest-Group-on-Cancer/179508702119033

Chair
Claudio Battaglini, Ph.D., FACSM
Email: claudio@email.unc.edu

Co-Chairs
Anna Campbell, Ph.D.
Email: mpbell@canrehab.co.uk

Riggs Klika, PhD, FACSM
Email: riggs.klika@pepperdine.edu
Combat Sports

Combat Sports Approved 4/07
Mission: To provide a forum for the discussion and dissemination of the relevant sport science research as it pertains to the health, safety and performance of athletes participating in combative sports. These sports include the Olympic combative sports of wrestling, judo, tae-kwon-do and boxing, as well as other martial arts competitions.

Chair
Laura Daray
Email: laura.daray@pepsico.com
Co-Chair
Lindsay Bottoms
Email: l.Bottoms@uel.ac.uk
Endurance Athlete Medicine and Science

Endurance Athlete Medicine and Science Approved 6/01
Mission: To provide a multidisciplinary forum to exchange information, focus research and develop standardized care for endurance athletes involved in running, biking, swimming, Nordic skiing and other endurance activities.

Chair
Andrew Bosch, Ph.D.
Email: andrew.bosch@uct.ac.za

Co-Chair
James Smoliga, Ph.D., FACSM
Email: jsmoliga@highpoint.edu
Environmental and Occupational Physiology

Environmental and Occupational Physiology Approved 11/11
Mission: To promote and facilitate applied research and provide clinical information on the physiological demands, challenges and consequences of performing exercise in environmental extremes and occupational settings; and to develop resource materials for ACSM members with interest in the relation of physical performance to occupations with environmental or occupational demands.

Chair
Marcus Taylor, Ph.D., FACSM
Email: marcus,k.taylor2.civ@mail.mil

Co-Chairs
Zachary Schlader, Ph.D.
Email: zjschlad@buffalo.edu
Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Approved 10/13
Mission: To provide a forum for exchange and to support the science and application of epidemiology and biostatistics methods to the study of physical activity, sport, exercise and health.

Chair
Xuemei Sui, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., FACSM
Email: msui@mailbox.sc.edu
Co-Chairs
Karim Chamari
Email: karim.chamari@aspetar.com

Peter Kokkinos, Ph.D., FACSM
Email: peter.kokkinos@va.gov
Exercise Science Education

Exercise Science Education Approved 10/03
Mission: To develop and promote methods to enhance the lecture and laboratory exercise sciences pedagogy so as to improve students' cognitive skills.

Chair
Kim Reich, Ph.D.
Email: kreich@highpoint.edu

Co-Chair
John Dobson, Ph.D.
Email: jdobson@georgiasouthern.edu
Health, Fitness and Wellness Coaching

Health, Fitness and Wellness Coaching Approved 1/04
Mission: To network to share coaching experiences, practice new coaching skills and help ACSM members overcome challenges when moving from the training mode of providing expert advice and solutions to client problems to the coaching approach of helping clients take responsibility and discover their own answers and solutions.

Chair
Blaine T. Wilson
Email: bwilson@wellcoaches.com
Co-Chair
Gary Sforzo, Ph.D., FACSM
Email: sforzo@ithaca.edu
Medical and Wellness Issues in the Performing Arts

Medical and Wellness Issues in the Performing Arts Approved 2/17
Mission: Integrating the science of sport and the performing arts for mutual benefit.

Chair
Randy Dick, Ph.D.
Email: 4969rwd@gmail.com
Medicine and Science of Team Sports
Medicine and Science of Team Sports Approved 1/10
Mission: The mission of the Team Sports Interest Group is fourfold:
- To support and increase the scientific knowledge for team sports.
- To attract and support scientists in conducting studies with an impact on team sports.
- To support an active agenda of research in the epidemiology of injuries, prevention of injuries, quantification of physiological strain in all levels of the wide range of team sports (recreational through professional), the development of valid performance diagnostics, and the determination of efficacy of team sport participation for personal health. These will help build a platform to discuss present directions of research and to reflect different opinions on relevant topics.
- To promote continuing research, education and service in support of scientific inquiry into the world of team sports.
Chair
Viswanath Unnithan, Ph.D., FACSM
Email: vish.unnithan@uws.ac.uk

Co-Chair
Oliver Faude, Ph.D.
Email: oliver.faude@unibas.ch
Military Sports Medicine

Military Sports Medicine Approved 5/97
Mission: To provide a forum to assemble and discuss issues regarding sports medicine in the military.

Chair
Christopher Roach, M.D.
Email: christopher.j.roach2.mil@mail.mil

Co-Chair
Matt Tenan, Ph.D.
Email: matthew.tenan@gmail.com
Minority Health and Research

Minority Health and Research Approved 6/01
Mission: To provide a multidisciplinary forum for focused discussion and collaborative research on minority health issues, with particular emphasis on preventable disease conditions and cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Website: http://www.acsmminorityhealth.com/

Chair
Mario Munoz, Ph.D.
Email: mario.munoz@umb.edu

Co-Chair
Valerie Cothran, M.D.
Email: vcothran@som.umaryland.edu
Noninvasive Physiological Measurement

Noninvasive Physiological Measurement Approved 5/93
Mission: To support and promote the use of non-invasive measurement of physiological systems, particularly with reference to exercise science.

Chair
Daniel Credeur, Ph.D.
Email: daniel.credeur@usm.edu

Co-Chairs
Thomas Barstow, Ph.D., FACSM
Email: tbarsto@ksu.edu

Lee Stoner, Ph.D.
Email: dr.l.stoner@gmail.com
Nutrition

Nutrition Approved 6/98
Mission: To promote the science of nutrition within ACSM, to be a reliable nutrition resource for ACSM and to critically evaluate nutrition and sport nutrition information in the marketplace.

Chair
Stella Volpe, Ph.D., R.D., FACSM
Email: stella.l.volpe@drexel.edu

Co-Chair
Lynn Kam, M.A.
Email: lak99@case.edu
Pediatric Exercise Physiology

Pediatric Exercise Physiology Approved 5/93
Mission: To provide a forum for scientific and clinical communication regarding the response to acute and chronic exercise in the healthy and diseased child.

Twitter - https://twitter.com/ACSMPedSIG

Chair
Cheryl Howe, Ph.D., FACSM
Email: howec@ohio.edu

Co-Chair
Emily Guseman, Ph.D.
Email: gusemane@ohio.edu
Physiological & Biological Mechanisms Underlying Health & Performance

Physiological & Biological Mechanisms Underlying Health & Performance Approved 3/17
Mission: To promote and translate the results of basic research from cell to organism with particular emphasis on physiological mechanisms underlying health and performance effects of physical activity and exercise.

Chair
Kevin Ballard, Ph.D.
Email: ballarkd@miamioh.edu

Co-Chair
Kyle Timmerman, Ph.D.
Email: timmerkl@miamioh.edu
Pregnancy and Postpartum

Pregnancy and Postpartum Approved 3/18
Mission: To provide a forum for scientific and clinical communication regarding the maternal and fetal response to acute and chronic exercise during pregnancy, as well as the long-term implications for mother and child.

Chair
Michelle Mottola, Ph.D., FACSM
Email: mmottola@uwo.ca

Co-Chairs
Linda May, Ph.D.
Email: mayl@ecu.edu

Liz Joy, M.D., MPH, FACSM
Email: eajslc@aol.com
Psychobiology and Behavior

Psychobiology and Behavior Approved 6/95
Mission: To promote research and the advancement of knowledge of sport psychology with a particular emphasis on psychobiology and health.

Chair
Steve Petruzzello, Ph.D., FACSM
Email: petruzze@illinois.edu

Co-Chair
Laura Ellingson, Ph.D.
Email: ellingl@iastate.edu
Strength & Conditioning Specialties

Strength & Conditioning Specialties Approved 9/03
Mission: To support and promote an interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of information, the focus of research and the development of a cooperative relationship between strength and conditioning professionals and the medical and applied sciences.

Chair
Brent Alvar, Ph.D., FACSM
Email: brent.alvar@gmail.com

Co-Chair
Carwyn Sharp, Ph.D.
Email: carwyn.sharp@gmail.com