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Richard Suminski

HEALTH BEHAVIOR & NUTRITION SCIENCES

Link to CV (PDF)

Richard Suminski


Associate Professor
suminski@udel.edu
 302-831-0413

Office Location:
019 Carpenter Sports Building

Dr. Suminski is the Director of the Center for Innovative Health Research and an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Nutrition Sciences at the University of Delaware. He is an Epidemiologist who earned a doctorate in Exercise Physiology and a master’s in Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh and completed a post-doctorate in the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on innovation in physical activity promotion and assessment particularly where environmental factors come into play and more recently, the assessment of COVID-19 transmission risk factors.

Dr. Suminski has been the Principal Investigator on grants from CDC, NIH, NSF, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He received the distinguish scholar award from the College of Education at OSU and is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and a member of the American College of Epidemiology. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, presented at numerous national and international conferences, and regularly participates on grant review panels, critiques manuscripts submitted to leading scientific journals, and volunteers in the community where needed.

Courses

  • BHAN 435: Physical Activity Behavior
  • HLPR 632 Analysis in the Health Sciences

 

Publications

  1. Suminski RR, Dominick GM, Saponaro M. Comparing counts of park users with a wearable video device and an unmanned aerial system. J of Measurement of Physical Activity Behavior. (in press) 
  2. Obrusnikova I, Cavalier AR, Novak HM, Blair AE, Suminski RR. Effects of a community-based familiarization intervention on independent performance of resistance-training exercise tasks by adults with intellectual disabilities. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (in press). 
  3. Suminski RR, Dominick G, Sapanaro P, Orsega-Smith EM, Plautz E, Sapanaro M. High-Tech Video Capture and Analysis for Providing Counts of Park Users. Journal for the Measurement of Physical Behaviour. 2020, 3(2): 147-156. 
  4. Taylor WC, Das BM, Paxton RJ, Shegog R, Suminski RR, Johnson SR, Akintola OA, Hammad A, Guidry MK. Development and implementation of a logic model: Occupational stress, physical activity, and sedentary behavior in the workplace. Work. 2020;67(1):203-213. doi: 10.3233/WOR-203266. 
  5. Suminski R, Jackson-Short C, Noel Duckworth N, Plautz E, Speakman K, Landgraf R, Patterson F. Dover Micro Open Street Events: Evaluation Results and Implications for Community-Based Physical Activity Programming. Frontiers in Public Health 2019; 7: 356. 
  6. Suminski RR Jr, Robson S, Turner J, Plautz E. Promoting Small Business Support of Youth Physical Activity in Low-Income, Minority Neighborhoods: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2019, Jul 30;8(7):e13141. 
  7. Suminski RR Jr, Dominick G, Saponaro P. Assessing Physical Activities Occurring on Sidewalks and Streets: Protocol for a Cross-Sectional Study. JMIR Res Protoc. 2019;8(7):e12976. 
  8. Suminski RR, Gregory Dominick G, Plautz E. Validation of the Block Walk Method for Assessing Physical Activity Occurring on Sidewalks/Streets. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(11), 1927; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16111927 
  9. Suminski RR, Patterson F, Perkett M, Heinrich KM, Carlos Poston WS. The association between television viewing time and percent body fat in adults varies as a function of physical activity and sex. BMC Public Health. 2019 Jun 13;19(1):736. 
  10. Suminski RR, Blair RI, Lessard L, Peterson M, Killingsworth R. Physical Education Teachers’ and Principals’ Perspectives on the Use of FitnessGram. Sage Open Medicine. 2019;7:1–7 
  11. Suminski RR, Poston, W.S.C., Haddock, C.K., Day S., Jitnarin N, Sara A. Jahnke SA, Dominick GM. Steady State Hydration Levels of Career Firefighters in a Large, Population- Based Sample," Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2019 Jan;61(1):47- 50. 
  12. Mansoori S, Suminski R, Kushner N, Cicalo C, Chai S. Added Sugar and Solid Fruit Predict Blood Pressure in Older Adults (P18-030-19). Curr Dev Nutr. 2019 Jun 13;3(Suppl 1):nzz039.P18-030-19.
  13. May, LE, Suminski, RR, Langaker, MD. Influence of Maternal BMI and Exercise on Fetal Heart Outcomes. Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. (in press).
  14. Suminski RR, Taylor WC, May LE and Blair RI. Primary Care Provider’s Consideration of Environmental Factors When Counseling Patients about Physical Activity. SM Prev Med Public Health. 2017; 1(2): 1009.
  15. Taylor WC, Suminski RR, Das BM, Paxton RJ and Blair RI. Evaluation of Mayor’s Wellness Councils: Recommendations for Website Content Informed by Community Coalition Action Theory. SM Prev Med Public Health. 2017; 1(1): 1005.
  16. Poston, W.S.C., Haddock, C.K., Heinrich, K.M., Jahnke, S.A., Jitnarin, N., Batchelor, D.B., Feito, Y., & Suminski, R.R. (2017). Response to Letter to the Editor re: Poston et al., Is high-intensity functional training (HIFT)/CrossFit Safe for military fitness training? Military Medicine, 182, 1476-1479.
  17. May, LE, Spencer, K, Daniels, R, Rouse, J, Stoop, A, White, W, Suminski, R. (2016). Community Awareness of Pregnancy and Child Health in Four North Carolina Counties. Journal of Pregnancy and Child Health 3(5): 294.
  18. May, LE, Knowlton, J, Hanson, J, Suminski, R, Paynter, C, Fang,X, Gustafson, K. Effects of Exercise During Pregnancy on Maternal Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability. PM&R 2016; 8 (7): 611–617.

Current Funding

National Science Foundation (2040503) Wagner (PI) 8/20-8/21 Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) NSF Program PMP-Particul & Multiphase Process Special Initiatives (2040503)
RAPID: development of a local epidemiological population balance model informed by UAV and WVD data Co-Principal Investigator: Richard Suminski; $100,000.00

National Institutes of Health Suminski (PI) 9/18 - 8/21 (1 R21 NR017267-01A1) Promoting small business support of youth physical activity in low-income, minority neighborhoods $425,428

National Institutes of Health Suminski/Dominick (PIs) 8/18 - 7/21 (1 R21 HL143553-01 ) A cutting edge approach to assessing physical activities occurring on sidewalks/streets $425,374

Harnisch Grant (Suminski) Suminski (PI) 8/18-7/21 Institute of Coaching International The Impact of Health Coaching on Patient Outcomes $34,000

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