Dr. Darren Warburton

Dr. Darren Warburton is the Co-Chair for the 8th ISPAH Congress in Vancouver, 2020.

Dr. Darren Warburton is a Full Professor and the co-Director of the Physical Activity Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Unit at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He is the inaugural Scholar within the Indigenous Studies in Kinesiology program, the founder and director of the Cardiovascular Physiology and Rehabilitation Laboratory and the Indigenous Physical Activity and Health program at UBC. He was also the director of the Sport Cardiology and Musculoskeletal Assessment Research Team (SMART 2010) for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. He is a founding member of the Sports Cardiology BC (www.sportscardiologybc.org) and a member of the Canadian Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation. He co-created and implemented the Physical Activity Support Line (www.physicalactivityline.com) and led the development of the new Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire for Everyone (PAR-Q+) and the new electronic Physical Activity Readiness Medical Examination (ePARmed-X+). He is also the lead investigator on the development of clinical exercise prescriptions for a variety of chronic medical conditions.

Dr. Warburton’s research spans the spectrum of Indigenous health and wellness, elite athletic performance, childhood health, quality of life in the elderly, and the treatment of patients with chronic disease and/or disability (including individuals with heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, schizophrenia, and spinal cord injury). He oversees the training and assessment of high performance athletes from various sports. He has published extensively including over 300 peer-reviewed articles and chapters. In 2012, Dr. Warburton was one of five Canadian individuals and teams honoured with the CIHR-CMAJ Top Canadian Achievements in Health Research Awards that recognize and celebrate Canadian health research and innovation excellence. Dr. Warburton was further acknowledged as one of the top two winning achievements for this prestigious honour. This award recognized Dr. Warburton’s expertise in exercise and medicine; representing the first time that an exercise scientist has been awarded this honour. For further information on Dr. Warburton and his research program please visit www.healthandphysicalactivity.com.