Today marks our final podcast of 2016. What a year it's been! Join us today for a conversation with another Huffines Institute alum, Dr. Emily Schmitt. Dr. Schmitt's work on health, exercise, and the environment is sure to close the year out well. A very interesting subject!

This week's podcast features one of our own - Huffines Institute Affiliate Dr. Heather Vellers joins us for a discussion on groundbreaking research taking place right now on mitochondria and how their genome affects our health! Really cool stuff!

This year's Huffines Discussion went off without a hitch - except for a last minute speaker change that saw former Texas A&M Quarterback Jerrod Johnson take the place of Dat Nguyen, who unfortunately had an alternate commitment come up!

We're thrilled to have Dr. Amanda Boyce from the National Institutes of Health join us on the Podcast today! Amanda brings a wealth of experience in scientific review, and discusses the specifics behind how our tax dollars get spent on research in funding from the National Institutes of Health, the nation's medical research agency -whose goal is "making important discoveries that improve health and save lives. A really informative talk!

Playing the piano, swinging a golf club, typing words on a computer - what do all these activities have in common? Physiologically, each requires the careful coordination of different movements by both limbs to complete the task. This is bimanual coordination, and we have Dr. Deanna Kennedy in the studio to talk about it! Join us for a talk on the very basics of human performance, and how completion of even the smallest tasks is an impressive physiological feat!

Most believe that sport, particularly organized sport, is a generally good and positive activity that leads to positive outcomes - but why? How can we maximize the positive outcomes that sport has with the greatest regularity? Join us with Dr. Marlene Dixon, as we take on these questions and more in this week's podcast

Healthy lifestyle choices are an important part of every athlete's routine, particularly when it has to do with the fuel they give their body. Join us for an interesting discussion on nutrition in athletics, with Dr. Susan Kleiner, a highly decorated nutritionist, scientist and author. Dr. Kleiner is the owner of High Performance Nutrition, LLC, a consulting firm in Mercer Island, Washington, and has authored eight books on nutrition and dieting. We're thrilled to have her on the podcast...

Joining us this week is Dr. Jeff Potteiger, a Professor in the Department of Movement Studies and the Dean of the Graduate School at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. Dr. Potteiger discusses his research, and how some of the world's premier athletes' transition out of their sport is often accompanied by health issues. A really interesting talk!

This week's Podcast Friday represents our 200th! To thank you for your continuous support, Dr. Lightfoot is joined by Producer Kenneth McIntyre to take you behind the scenes of the Podcast and to meet some of the people that make the Huffines Institute successful! To that end, this podcast also features Texas A&M Coaching Academy Director Dr. John Thornton, plus current and former Huffines staffers Ayland Letsinger, Alexis Appelquist, Carlos Guevara, and Sheril Marek

This week's podcast features an unlikely partnership - Texas A&M's College of Architecture and School of Public Health are combining with the Department of Health and Kinesiology to produce cutting-edge research on physical activity in communities!  Drs. Chanam Lee and Marcia Ory join us for an interesting discussion on health, location, and the environment as they discuss the NIH supported "Active Living Austin" project.