Discover how nutrition and exercise affect the human body and its vitality
Department of

Nutrition and Exercise Physiology


Discover how nutrition and exercise affect the human body and its vitality

We believe total wellness must include nutrition and exercise. We offer some of the only programs in the region that make you an expert in both. We train alongside doctors and other health care providers to heal our communities through food and physical activity. We are future nutrition and exercise professionals—and your future starts here.

Infinite Possibilities

Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine’s Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology (NEP) prepares you for a wide range of careers in health care including cardiac rehabilitation, dietetics, public health, research, and academia.

Why WSU Nutrition and Exercise Physiology?

An Innovative, Integrative Approach

Unlike traditional departments that separate nutrition and exercise physiology, we have designed an approach that integrates biological studies with relevant social and behavioral sciences.

State-of-the-Art Simulation Centers

We integrate simulation-based learning into our curriculum with our state-of-the-art simulation center, which uses advanced technologies and standardized patients to simulate realistic health situations.

Interprofessional Learning Environment

Interprofessional, clinical, and classroom experiences are cornerstones of our curriculum. We are one of the few departments of nutrition and exercise physiology embedded within a school of medicine, making interdisciplinary learning not only possible but integral to your education.

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Our Degree Programs

Get to Know Us

  • Located on WSU Spokane campus
  • 15,000 sq. ft. of dedicated teaching, research, and office space
  • State-of-the-art equipment for laboratory courses, practicums, and research

Thank you for visiting Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine’s Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology.

We motivate students to become health care leaders serving individuals, communities, and populations. Grounded in a science-based curriculum, the program prepares students through rigorous academics, research, and clinical practice.

We recognize that nutritious food and physical activity are vital for a healthy life, and these determinants of health should be accessible to everyone. Further, our department recognizes the important connections between proper nutrition and regular physical activity as crucial to the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases across the globe. Although the health benefits of proper nutrition and regular physical activity are well-established, we build on that knowledge by merging both fields of study into a discipline that focuses on improving health outcomes in clinical, community, and population-level settings.

Our position within the WSU College of Medicine allows us to play an integral role in training future physicians in a more holistic manner. In addition, our graduate program research tracks enable our faculty and students to disseminate knowledge on the importance of a nutritious diet and regular physical activity in health broadly.

Great things lie ahead for NEP….So please stay tuned.

Cheers!

Glen E. Duncan, PhD, ACSM-CEP
Professor and Department Chair

cardiovascular test

Research

NEP faculty members explore health promotion and disease prevention in clinical, community, and population-level settings.

Areas of inquiry include:

  • Effects of built and social environments on lifestyle behaviors and health using twin samples
  • Social and behavioral determinants of diet, obesity, and chronic disease
  • Pulmonary system responses to exercise in healthy and diseased humans
  • Relationships between space, place, and health outcomes using geographic information systems and data analytics
  • Mechanistic links between lifestyle and environmental factors and obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease
  • Connections between Nutrition and the gut microbiome.
  • Vascular health with aging and disease

Newsletter

View the latest edition of NutrEx, our annual alumni newsletter.

NutrEx Newsletter

Giving

The Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology is proud of the students who have graduated from our various academic programs. We want to hear from our alumni, and in turn, want our alumni to know what is happening with us in Spokane and beyond.

Our alumni and friends are invaluable as we strive to redefine education. Gifts to assist our students are always appreciated. Please consider a gift to make a difference for future generations. Gifts support student scholarships and financial aid, student travel expenses to attend professional conferences for presentations and networking, student and faculty research, the purchase of new equipment for laboratories, and recruitment and retention of faculty.