Dr. Rachel Colley

Education, Credentials, Academic appointments

  • PhD, School of Human Kinetics, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
  • BSc and BPHE, Queen’s University
  • Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology – Certified Exercise Physiologist
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa
  • Cross-appointed to Department of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa
  • Member, Faculty of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies, University of Ottawa
  • Junior Research Chair, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute
  • Scientific Officer, Active Healthy Kids Canada

Biography

Dr. Colley holds a Junior Research Chair position with HALO at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute and is appointed as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. She is the Scientific Officer of Active Healthy Kids Canada and a consultant analyst on the Canadian Health Measures Survey at Statistics Canada. Dr. Colley has published 29 peer-reviewed papers and 33 conference abstracts. Dr. Colley’s research is focused on the measurement of physical activity and sedentary behaviour with a particular focus on objective measurement tools. She is currently studying the impact of motor skill development on physical activity engagement in overweight children and is developing a consensus statement on pre-exercise screening for children and youth.

Research, Clinical, Professional and Scholarly Focus and Service

Current research interests include: i) physical activity epidemiology ii) objective measurement of physical activity and sedentary behavior iii) motor skill development and obesity in children iv) early life determinants of childhood obesity v) behavior compensation vi) knowledge translation

  • Scientific Officer, Chair of the Research Working Group and Spokesperson for the release of the 8th Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth
  • Awarded the Outstanding New Investigator Award by the CHEO Research Institute, October 24, 2012
  • Co-Chair of the Scientific Committee for the 2014 Global Summit on Physical Activity for Children and Youth
  • Principal Investigator on a CIHR-funded Project (Planning Grant 2012): PAR-Q 4 KIDS: An ethical approach for encouraging children to participate in higher intensity or maximal effort physical activity
  • Developed an analytical support tool to support researchers working with accelerometer data in SAS: The Actical Accelerometer Data Analysis Support Tool (Accel+)
  • Co-Investigator on an AHSC AFP Innovation Funded Study: Assessment of Activity Intensity in Children and Adolescents with Inherited Arrhythmia Syndromes by Combined Heart Rate and Accelerometer Monitoring
  • Co-Investigator on a study funded by the Lung Association: Co-Existent Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Obesity: Finding NEAT Targets for Intervention
  • Reviewer for many scholarly journals

Graduate Students, Supervision and Training

  • Peter Breithaupt (University of Ottawa – M.Sc. Co-Supervisor (2009-2011)
  • Allana Leblanc (University of Ottawa – Ph.D. Co-Supervisor (2012-2016)
  • Angela Alberga (University of Ottawa) – Thesis Examiner (2013)
  • Jessica McNeil (University of Ottawa) – Ph.D. Committee Member (2012-2016)
  • Michael Hopkins (University of Ottawa) – M.Sc. Committee Member (2011)

Memberships

  • NASPEM
  • CSEP
  • Canadian Obesity Network
  • Ontario Society for Health& Fitness
  • Sedentary Behaviour Research Network