Women in science and female exercise physiology with Dr Abbie Smith-Ryan

Dr Glenn McConell talks with Professor Abbie Smith-Ryan from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill about Women in science and female exercise physiology. Abbie has done remarkably well to publish 165 papers and be rapidly promoted to full Professor. Abbie talks about the challenges for women in science and also her research with female exercise physiology.   

0:00. Introduction and how got into research  

3:30. Women in science 

Women under represented in science and exercise science. Discussed challenges for women in science, more male Professors/senior roles: lack of mentors for women about how to do well in science, expectations and challenges when have children and juggling career,  find what you love, time management, effects of the pandemic resulting in fewer women publishing, women doing more “invisible labour” so having a greater mental load (men and women wired differently), how do we change things so better for women?, women receiving student evaluations about their appearance and what they wear, pressure on women to be “nice” and not direct, if ambitious women are sometimes considered bossy but male is considered a leader, women more likely to say yes to doing service work etc, whether one should shoot to have M: F 50/50 or go for the best credentialed, good that more conversations taking place about the lack of diversity in exercise physiology.   

32:24. Female exercise physiology 

Sex differences but also female exercise physiology per se, why are we not involving more women in research?, most studies use normal menstruating women despite that fact that many are on hormonal contraception, need to reduce barriers to allow a larger group of women to be involved in studies, use of DEXA in women, so many variables to control: eg can apply results from one phase of the menstrual cycle to other phases?, need more funding for studies with females because of the extra hormonal measures, pregnancies tests etc needed, most exercise and nutrition recommendations are assumed to be the same in males and females but can’t assume this, baseline physiology in lectures and textbooks uses males still, barriers in regards to recruiting and funding research with women, does one need to change their nutrition and training across the menstrual cycle?, creatine supplementation and women, IUDs, body composition measures across the menstrual cycle.  

Inside Exercise brings to you the who's who of exercise metabolism, exercise physiology and exercise’s effects on health. With scientific rigor, these researchers discuss popular exercise topics while providing practical strategies for all.

The interviewer, Emeritus Professor Glenn McConell, has an international research profile following 30 years of Exercise Metabolism research experience while at The University of Melbourne, Ball State University, Monash University, the University of Copenhagen and Victoria University.

He has published over 120 peer reviewed journal articles and recently edited an Exercise Metabolism eBook written by world experts on 17 different topics (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-94305-9).

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