Alumna Selected as Visiting Research Professor at Leading Biomedical Research Center
By Kenneth Mullinax/ASU
An alumna of Alabama State University has been selected for a year-long visiting research
professorship at a leading biomedical research center.
Montgomery native, Dr. T J Exford, who graduated from ASU in 2005 with a Master's degree in Secondary Education, has been selected to serve as a visiting research professor at the acclaimed Pennington Biomedical (PD) Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., by the National Institute on Aging. Exford serves as an assistant professor of Exercise Science in the department of Kinesiology at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
"I am so excited to have been selected to be immersed for a full-year in research managing exercise training programming, fitness testing scheduling and assessment, and other biostatistics, biomedical imaging, community engagement research methods, and clinical trial design," Exford said. "The diversity supplement of my research will look at the influence of mindfulness and stress on cognitive decline in African-Americans...and also assessing whether exercise’s hypothesized benefits for cognitive function and its hypothesized protection against neurodegeneration extend to the underrepresented African-American population."
Exford explained that having an opportunity to engage in a study examining the influence of mindfulness on discrimination and racism in the context of social determinants of healthcare is meaningful to her.
"My heart is always with my home state and with Alabama State University,” Exford explained. "I started my professional educational development at ASU, and what I gained from Alabama State has made all of the difference in the world in my positive trajectory in higher education research."
News media contact: Kenneth Mullinax, 334-229-4104.
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