SUMMARY:
The Physical Activity Guidelines (PAG) for Americans provides science-based advice on how physical activity can promote health and reduce the risk of chronic disease for children and adults alike. PAG serves as the benchmark and primary, authoritative voice of the federal government for evidence-based guidance on physical activity, fitness and health for Americans, and provides a foundation for federal recommendations and education for physical activity programs, including the Healthy People objectives and Presidential Youth Fitness Program. Potential users of PAG include the federal government, policy makers, research scientists, health care and exercise professionals, teachers, students, and the American consumer. The charges given to the PAG Advisory Committee were as follows: 1) Examine the 1st edition of the PAG for Americans and determine topics for which new scientific evidence is likely to be available that may reconfirm or inform revisions to the current guidance or suggest new guidance; 2) Place its primary focus on the systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence published since the last Committee deliberations; 3) Place its primary emphasis on the development of physical activity recommendations for the general population in the United States and for specific subgroups of the population where warranted by a public health need; and 4) Prepare and submit to the Secretary of Health and Human Services a scientific report of technical recommendations with rationales to inform the development of the 2nd edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans which is scheduled to be released in late 2018 or early 2019. Dr. Pescatello’s webinar will overview the purpose, charge, and process of the writing of the PAG Advisory Committee Scientific Report that will be released in late February or early March of 2018. In addition, she will highlight what is new in the PAG Advisory Committee Scientific Report.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Present the Charge Given to the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee
2. Discuss the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Process
3. Highlight What’s New in the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Scientific Report
4. Conclude with Questions & Answers
ABOUT THE PRESENTER:
Dr. Linda S. Pescatello, FACSM, FAHA, is a Distinguished Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Connecticut (UConn), Storrs. She holds joint appointments in the Departments of Allied Health Sciences, Nutritional Sciences, and Physiology and Neurobiology at UConn, and the Department of Community Medicine and Health Care at the UConn School of Medicine. Her research focuses on exercise prescription to optimize health benefits, particularly among adults with hypertension and overweight and obesity; and on genetic and clinical determinants of the response of health-related phenotypes to exercise, particularly blood pressure and muscle strength. Dr. Pescatello is an American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Citation Award recipient, was an associate editor of ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription the eighth edition, was the senior editor of ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription the ninth edition, and she served as an expert panel and writing team member on an update of the ACSM’s exercise preparticipation health screening recommendations published in Medicine & Science in Exercise & Sport. Dr. Pescatello was recently appointed to serve as a member of the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee. She has authored over 150 manuscripts, four books, and 16 book chapters, and has had numerous UConn, American Heart Association, National Dairy Council, National Institutes of Health, and Unites States Department of Agriculture-funded grants. Dr. Pescatello has served as an ACSM Vice President of Basic and Allied Science, Chair of the ACSM Pronouncements Committee, and as a member of the ACSM Board of Trustees and Administrative Council. Dr. Pescatello is also a Past President of the New England Chapter of the ACSM, and serves on their Board of Trustees.