GOLD Speakers

Michelle Mottola, PhD, FACSM

• Country: Canada

Biography:

Dr. Mottola is a Professor with a Joint Position in the School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Health Sciences and the Dept. of Anatomy and Cell Biology in the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. She is the Director of the R. Samuel McLaughlin Foundation – Exercise and Pregnancy Laboratory (www.uwo.ca/fhs/EPL), a Scientist of the Children’s Health Research Institute and a Fellow and a Board of Trustees Member of the American College of Sports Medicine. She is an embryologist and exercise physiologist who has conducted research on the effects of maternal exercise on both the mother and the developing fetus, with follow up into the postpartum period. She is co-lead author on the 2019 Canadian Guideline for Physical Activity throughout Pregnancy which was based on rigorous evaluation of the current scientific literature through 12 systematic reviews published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. She has received over $2.5 million for research on exercise during pregnancy and has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers. Her current research focuses on the impact of a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy on chronic disease risks such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease for both mother and her offspring.