- Faculty
Stephen Carter
-
Assistant Professor
Open Research and Contributor Identifier
Education
The University of Alabama, Ph.D., 2014
Central Washington University, M.S., 2010
Willamette University, B.A., 2006
Background
- Associate Scientist, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2016-2018
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Nutrition Obesity Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2014-2016
Research Interests
- Cardiovascular physiology
- Environmental physiology
- Exercise-oncology
- Gut microbiota and exercise training
- Therapeutic utility of hypoxia-/heat-therapy
Overview
Whereas aging itself is a natural consequence of time, it is characterized by marked physiological changes that coincide with an increased vulnerability to disease. In fact, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative disease all share advancing age as a primary risk factor. Waning physiologic function can thus trigger a maladaptive cycle highlighted by physical activity avoidance, systemic deconditioning, and neuromuscular/cognitive impairment. While habitual exercise training can attenuate many adverse age-related shifts, it is of interest to identify other (potentially complementary) non-pharmacologic approaches to combat the complications of advancing age and prevalence of chronic disease. Given the tendency for weight gain and declining cardiorespiratory fitness following breast cancer treatment, it is of further interest to explore factors governing positive physical activity behavior including stretch-shortening cycle potentiation, perceived difficulty, walking self-efficacy, and lower-extremity pain/stiffness.
On-going Projects
- Dietary intervention for reducing blood pressure among African American women with obesity
- Long-term impact of the novel coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) on cardiopulmonary health in women
- Dietary nitrate supplementation for optimizing exercise-related cardiovascular adaptation in postmenopausal women
Selected Publications
Articles
Baranauskas MN, Altherr CA, Coggan AR, Gruber AH, Raglin JS, Carter SJ. Beetroot supplementation in women enjoying exercise together (BEE SWEET): Rationale, design, and methods. Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications. 2020. December 25. PMID: 33392416.
Baranauskas MN, Coggan AR, Gruber AH, Altherr CA, Raglin JS, Carter SJ. Dietary nitrate supplementation and exercise-related performance. Nutrition Today. 2020. 55(5): 211-217.
Carter SJ, Baranauskas MN, Fly AD. Considerations for obesity, vitamin D, and physical activity amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2020. 28(7): 1176-1178. PMID: 32299148.
Carter SJ, Gruber AH, Raglin JS, Baranauskas MN, Coggan AR. Potential health effects of dietary nitrate supplementation in aging and chronic degenerative disease. Medical Hypotheses. 2020. PMID: 32294579.
Carter SJ, Rogers LQ, Bowles HR, Norian LA, Hunter GR. Inverse association between changes in energetic cost of walking and vertical accelerations in non-metastatic breast cancer survivors. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2019. 119(11-12): 2457-2464. PMID: 31520215.
Hunter GR, Singh H, Carter SJ, Bryan DR, Fisher G. Sarcopenia and its implications for metabolic health. Journal of Obesity. 2019. March 6. PMID: 30956817.
Carter SJ, Hunter GR, Blackston JW, Liu N, Lefkowitz EJ, Van der Pol WJ, Morrow CD, Paulsen JA, Rogers LR. Gut microbiota diversity is associated with aerobic capacity in breast cancer survivors. Experimental Physiology. 2019. 104(4): 529-539. PMID: 30763983.