Robert Newton, PhD

Dr. Newton obtained his doctorate degree in clinical psychology from the University of Florida in 2002. Following his internship, he accepted a post-doctoral fellowship at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, LA and has been here ever since. He is currently an associate professor and director of the Physical Activity and Ethnic Minority Health Laboratory at the Pennington Center. His primary area of specialization is to examine the role that physical activity and exercise training interventions affect the health of African American adults and children. A growing secondary area is in examining the role that technology has in the promotion of health behaviors, particularly by encouraging use of mobile technologies. A large majority of his research is conducted in collaboration with community partners. His research has been supported by federal, state, industry, and private foundation funding. These efforts have resulted in over 60 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of physical activity promotion and exercise training interventions, school-based weight gain prevention programs, body fat/adiposity and cardiometabolic risk factors, and technology-based health promotion programs in African American adults and children. He has also received several honors and awards from the University of Florida, Society of Behavioral Medicine, and the National Institutes of Health.