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Our guest today, Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, FACSM is making a difference in the care of oncology patients. As a Professor of Public Health Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University’s College of Medicine, she is an exercise interventionist who has led multiple trials. Dr. Schmitz is working to find a way to create a standard in treatment that allows oncologists, physical and exercise therapy, and patients to go through the journey together with ease.
She has written two books, one for the patient, Moving Through Cancer, and the other for the patients’ healthcare team, Exercise Oncology. By keeping things simple, she will ensure the patient is able to perform the exercises even while undergoing treatment. She has partnered with a company called My Victory, which she calls “Peloton for cancer patients”. You receive one year’s access to this website with the purchase of your book. Even in the middle of their treatment program, patients can follow along and understand the exercises on this website.
Dr. Schmitz wanted to guide patients through the cancer journey. This book is based on the idea that they may be able to start doing something of benefit before they start treatment, which will have a positive impact on the entire journey.
High points:
- Barriers cancer rehab is facing right now
- How Kathryn is disseminating the ACSM Roundtable findings to patients & their caregivers
- Making exercise easier for patients (& improving compliance along the way!)
Penn State One Group: https://research.med.psu.edu/oncology-nutrition-exercise/
Books mentioned on the podcast:
About Dr. Kathryn Schmitz
Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, FACSM, is a Professor of Public Health Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University’s College of Medicine. She is an exercise interventionist who has led multiple trials, including a large randomized controlled trial to assess the safety of upper body exercise among 295 breast cancer survivors with and without lymphedema (Physical Activity and Lymphedema Trial (PAL)). She has conducted dissemination research to translate the PAL intervention to become more broadly disseminable. The program, now called Strength After Breast Cancer, has now been delivered to thousands of breast cancer survivors. An online educational training program to prepare exercise professionals and physical therapists to deliver the program has been delivered to over 400 outpatient rehabilitation specialists across the country.
Dr. Schmitz has published over 225 peer-reviewed scientific papers (scopus h-index of 55) and has had continuous NIH funding for her research since 2001, including six R01s, two R21s and a TREC Center (Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer). She also has received research support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade and the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality. She has served on the expert panel for the YMCA/Lance Armstrong Foundation Cancer Survivorship Collaborative, served on the ad hoc committee that developed the ACSM Cancer Exercise Trainer certification, and is the lead author of the first ACSM Roundtable on Exercise for Cancer Survivors, which published guidance for exercise testing and prescription for cancer survivors in July 2010. In June 2017, she became president-elect of the American College of Sports Medicine. She assumed the presidency in June 2018.
In March 2018, Dr. Schmitz chaired an International Multidisciplinary ACSM Roundtable on Exercise and Cancer Prevention and Control. The physicians, outpatient rehabilitation specialists, researchers, and exercise professionals in the room broadly agreed it is time for exercise oncology to go prime time. The question is how. Dr. Schmitz’ professional mission is to answer that question.
High points:
- Barriers cancer rehab is facing right now
- How Kathryn is disseminating the ACSM Roundtable findings to patients & their caregivers
- Making exercise easier for patients (& improving compliance along the way!)