Stephen Carter

Biography

Carter’s research addresses how inorganic dietary nitrate coupled with exercise training can be used to enhance vascular function and cardio-metabolic health among postmenopausal women. Four research areas are targeted: cardiovascular physiology, energy expenditure, exercise-oncology, and walking economy and physical activity measurement.

In line with the Irsay’s focus on precision research and solutions, his research has shown remarkable blood pressure differences in response to high-intensity interval training – underscoring the need for individual-tailored exercise to augment markers of aerobic fitness, cardio-metabolic health, and self-efficacy. Further, because understanding factors influential to participation in physical activity are critical for both weight maintenance and cardio-metabolic health, his research has also documented that greater free-living physical activity inspires greater self-efficacy.

All of these issues are amplified in the presence of serious, chronic disease. Cancer treatment-related effects combined with insufficient physical activity frequently hasten a maladaptive cycle of systemic deconditioning and cardio-metabolic dysregulation. Carter’s research revealed that improved aerobic fitness, as evidenced by lower myocardial workload during submaximal walking correlated with changes in fatigue among breast cancer survivors – highlighting the role of exercise training to restore physical function. In response to these basic epidemiological studies, his research has also addressed key aspects of the measurement tools involved in these studies, specifically how effective weight management necessitates accurate knowledge of factors governing ambulatory bioenergetics and accurate field-based monitoring/measurement.