Dr. Russell Pate
University of South Carolina
“Physical Activity - The Red-Headed Step Child of Public Health"

Russell R. Pate is a Professor in the Department of Exercise Science in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. He has held several administrative positions including Chair, Department of Exercise Science; Associate Dean for Research, Arnold School of Public Health; and Vice Provost for Health Sciences. Pate is an exercise physiologist with interests in physical activity and physical fitness in children and the health implications of physical activity. 

He has published more than 300 scholarly papers and has authored or edited eight books. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Heart Association, and several private foundations and corporations. He heads a research team that is currently supported by multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health and from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

He coordinated the effort that led to the development of the recommendations on Physical Activity and Public Health of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine (1995). He served on the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (2003-04), the U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee (2007-08), and an Institute of Medicine panel that developed guidelines on prevention of childhood obesity. He currently serves as Chair of the National Physical Activity Plan Alliance. 

Pate has served in several leadership positions with the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and in 1993-94 served as that organization’s president. He is a past-president of the National Coalition on Promoting Physical Activity. In 2012 he received the Honor Award from the American College of Sports Medicine.