Our Mission
The overall mission of the Physical Activity and Women's Health Lab (PAWH) is to better understand the determinants and health effects of modifiable lifestyle behaviors (e.g., sedentary behavior, physical activity, sleep) to inform behavioral interventions to improve health outcomes in at-risk populations, including pregnant and postpartum populations, children, rural populations, and marginalized groups.
Recent News
We're Hiring!
The PAWH Lab at the University of Iowa is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Scholar. Focus areas include: Exercise Science, Epidemiology, and Maternal & Perinatal Health. If you are interest see the job posting here.
April 2026- Congratulations to our undergraduate research assistant Rachel Hamling on being awarded the OUR Independent Creative Research by Undergraduates (ICRU) Fellowship for Summer 2026!
April 2026 – Undergraduate students Rachel Hamling and Paige Lewis presented their project, “Describing Physical Activity Patterns Across Pregnancy Using Qualitative Data and a Large Language Model,” at the University of Iowa Spring Undergraduate Research Festival.
March 2026- We are pleased to announce that Brianna Schoenfeld MD Student was awarded the 12-week summer research fellowship and will be joining our research team this summer. We look forward to the great ideas and perspectives she will contribute to our team!
March 2026- Gyurin Kim PhD Candidate received the Graduate College Summer and Post-Comprehensive Research Fellowships. Congrats Gyurin! We are so proud of you!
March 2026- Dr. Whitaker was awarded the Trudy Bush Fellowship for Cardiovascular Disease Research in Women’s Health at the American Heart Association 2026 Conference in Boston, MA. This award recognizes outstanding leadership and significant contributions to cardiovascular science in women’s health.
February 2026- Our research was featured in The Conversation and picked up by U.S. News & World Report. The article features our team’s research from the Pregnancy 24/7 Cohort Study! Our findings show that pregnant women in rural and low-income communities face major barriers to accessing healthy foods, leading to higher added sugar intake and lower nutrient intake. Improving food access is essential for supporting healthier pregnancies and families. View our original paper here.
January 2026- the lab welcomed Blessing Okwor as a new MS Student. She earned a BS in Human Kinetics and Sports Studies from the University of Nigeria where she developed a solid foundation in physical activity, health, and human performance.
November 2025- Congratulations to PhD candidate Gyurin on successfully passing her comprehensive exam, which focused on postpartum multidimensional sleep health!
November 2025- Dr. Kara Whitaker served as lead author on the American Heart Association science advisory published in Circulation titled “Sedentary Behavior and Light-Intensity Physical Activity During Pregnancy and Cardiovascular Health.” The advisory highlights how daily movement patterns during pregnancy impact maternal and cardiovascular health and calls for more research on these overlooked behaviors. See link to article here.
September 2025- Dr. Whitaker was featured as a presenter in the ORWH Women's Health Research Roundtable webinar titled "Reaching Rural Women: Implications for Research on Pregnancy". She presented findings from the Pregnancy 24/7 Study, highlighting lifestyle and psychosocial factors affecting pregnancy outcomes in rural populations.
September 2025- Dr. Whitaker is recognized for her Mid-Career Faculty Scholar award at a lunch with the University of Iowa President and Provost.
August 2025- Congrats to Postdoctoral Research Scholar Dr. Jaemyung Kim on the acceptance of his paper, "Compliance and Impact of a 5-Min Seated Rest Protocol on Home Blood Pressure Monitoring in Postpartum Women," in the American Journal of Hypertension! Click here to access the full paper.
May 2025 - Dr. Alex Crisp received the Pregnancy and Postpartum Special Interest Group Award for the best trainee abstract at the 2025 American College of Sports Medicine conference. Congratulations Alex!
May 2025 - A total of 8 Pregnancy 24/7 abstracts were presented at the 2025 American College of Sports Medicine conference in Atlanta, GA.
April 2025 - Dr. Kara Whitaker received the University of Iowa Mid-Career Faculty Scholar Award! See the link to the article here.
April 2025 - Congratulations to Dr. Lisa VanWiel for successfully defending her dissertation! Her work examining the associations of urinary incontinence and cardiovascular disease is highlighted in an IowaNow article, found here.
March 2025 - Dr. Kara Whitaker, Jaemyung Kim, and Lisa VanWiel presented their research findings at the American Heart Association conference in New Orleans!
September 2024 - Dr. Kara Whitaker served as guest-editor of a special issue topic in the Journal of Sport and Health Sciences on Physical Activity Epidemiology and published an editorial titled "Measurement, associations, patterns, and promotion: unveiling vital areas in physical activity epidemiology." See here to access the full issue.
June 2024 - Congratulations to Postdoctoral Researcher Jacob Gallagher for securing a NIH-NHLBI funded 2-year diversity supplement to the Pregnancy 24/7 Offspring Study!
March 2024 - Jackie Dziewior Borrowman successfully defended her dissertation! Her work was highlighted by CLAS in this article.
March 2024 - Postdoctoral Researcher Jacob Gallagher won the three-minute rapid fire oral abstract presentation competition at the AHA|Epi Lifestyles conference in Chicago. Congratulations Jacob!
November 2023 - A new pediatric play lab opened as part of the Child Life and Therapeutic Recreation Program and was featured here. Ongoing research in this space includes Dr. Whitaker's Pregnancy 24/7 Offspring Study.
September 2023 - Congratulations to PhD Student JP Marrero-Rivera at the University of Pittsburgh for receiving a Diversity Supplement through the NIH-NHLBI to add cognitive assessments in 24-month old children in the ongoing Offspring Study.
April 2023 - Dr. Whitaker and her team were awarded a R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study associations of sedentary behavior, physical activity, and sleep in pregnancy with offspring growth and cardiovascular health in a 5-year multi-site observational cohort study called the Offspring Study.
January 2023 - Jackie Dziewior was awarded an American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship for her dissertation project, titled "Remote postpartum intervention targeting movement behaviors after hypertensive disorders of pregnancy." Congratulations Jackie!
Check out our research highlights!
Research highlights created by Megan Melia, Carissa Zaun, Airiana Mohr, Maya Kanso, and Kennedy Ilein.