I am currently Professor Emeritus in the School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences at San Diego State University and the Chief Exercise Physiologist with the Exercise & Physical Activity Resource Center (EPARC) in the Department of Preventive and Family Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. I also hold an adjunct faculty position in the Graduate School of Public Health at SDSU. My academic background includes a B.S. degree in Health & Physical Education from Northeastern University in Boston, MA, where I grew up and taught high school Health and Physical Education before attending graduate school to study exercise physiology. I received my M.S. from the University of New Hampshire, with an emphasis on cardiac rehabilitation, and my PhD degree, also in Exercise Physiology, from the University of Michigan where my research focus was on fuel utilization during exercise in aging animals. In 1985 I arrived at SDSU where I continued research in exercise and aging, but with humans rather than laboratory rats and hamsters! From 1985 to 2001 I served as Associate Director and then Director of the SDSU Adult Fitness Program, a community fitness program primarily for older adults.My research focus on exercise and aging has expanded and shifted somewhat to study bone health across the lifespan, in populations ranging from young athletes to frail elderly. I serve as Principal Investigator on Project SPIRIT (Sports Injury Research in Teens), which is an on-going investigation of bone health in female high school athletes, and also am a Co- Investigator on exercise intervention trials in children and in adults with various chronic diseases. My professional memberships include Fellow status with the American Society for Bone & Mineral Research, and the International Society for Clinical Densitometry, and the American College of Sports Medicine. I am President-Elect of the Female Athlete Triad Coalition, an international consortium of clinicians and researchers dedicated to improving prevention, recognition, and treatment strategies for the Female Athlete Triad. I was the 2009 recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Award from the SDSU College of Professional Studies & Fine Arts, and the Excellence in Research Award in 2010 from the Sports Physical Therapy Section of the American Physical Therapy Association. In my free time, I enjoy cycling, both mountain biking and road riding, and have been a masters competitive cyclist for 24 years. More recently I began rowing with the San Diego Rowing Club, and now have aspirations of rowing competitively!
Email: j6nichols@eng.ucsd.edu
Current Research Project(s)
Curriculum Vitae
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Publications
For an up to date publications list see ResearchGate