Project(s)

Increasing Student Access to Transportation to Improve Social Determinants of Health (Ongoing)
Funding for Zero-Fare: Evaluating the Health and Economic Impacts (Ongoing)
Communities leading change: Advancing Black and Latino capacity to create nutrition and physical activity environmental and systems change (Ongoing)

Faculty Profile

grimesa@umkc.edu




Research Description

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As a health sciences scholar, my research focuses on physical activity, particularly active transport, and the associated health and social influences across demographic groups. I have been working in this area of research for nearly 10 years. The ecological model that posits multiple levels of influence on physical activity guides my work. Much of my work has focused on active transport in youth and adults, and I was formerly board chair for the local bicycle and pedestrian policy advocacy organization BikeWalkKC. My work has also focused on community-based interventions to address obesity and other chronic diseases, particularly through physical activity and nutrition interventions. As the physical activity field progresses, it is important to capture objective measures of physical activity; my work has captured physical activity using consumer and research-grade accelerometry. My research has included collaborations to evaluate Kansas City, MO’s novel free bus transit system on health impacts (e.g., bus ridership and body mass index, physical activity, access to health provider appointments) in underserved urban communities. I also led another grant tied to this project that is supported by the U.S. Environmental Protections Agency. In other work I've implement and evaluate community-based built environment projects that modify streetscapes to increase pedestrian safety and in turn, increase physical activity. My research also engages diverse populations including minority and low-income populations, children, older adults, and people experiencing homelessness, using a multiplicity of methods and research designs. Additionally, in alignment with the current proposal, my research has included leveraging school partnership to address physical inactivity, such as through after-school programming with adolescents from underserved urban communities. This multi-level program implements a school-based, sport-sampling intervention using community-based coaches and consumer wearables to track individual-level behavior change.


Affiliated Department(s)

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Community & Public Health  Health Sciences  


Faculty-related Tags
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Active Transportation  Bicycling  Health Outcomes  Physical Activity  


First-generation college graduate
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no


Region of Interest
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Africa  North America  


Country of Interest
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South Africa  United States  

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