I was born and grew up as the youngest in my family in a small village in northwestern Hungary. As I recall, I have always had two major interests: science and sports, well, and horses… After about 10 years of various sidetracks post high school graduation and searching my own path, I eventually completed my undergraduate degree in Recreation Management and Health Promotion at University of West Hungary. Under the guidance of my undergraduate advisor, I was able to gain laboratory experience in the university’s sport science laboratory. Upon my academic advisor’s recommendation, I took part of an international exchange program with the University of Northern Iowa (UNI).
After graduating with my BA I immigrated to the U.S. to pursue a master’s degree in Kinesiology at UNI. Having a graduate assistantship, I was able to conduct scientific research in both Sport Psychology and Exercise Physiology and present my work at international conferences both in Hungary and in the USA. From UNI I went to University of Iowa where I earned my Ph.D. in Health and Human Physiology. As a Ph.D. student I was involved in research studying physical activity and bone development. I have grown interest in studying age-related changes specifically in muscle and bone structure and function, and how these changes relate to movement mechanics, and performance of every-day activities.
I landed in Clarksville and at University of the Ozarks upon completion of my Ph.D in 2020. I teach in the Health Science program courses such as Anatomy and Physiology, Health Policy, Epidemiology, and two of my favorite courses, Exercise Prescription, and Kinesiology. Students taking my A&P classes should expect to learn a lot about the human body, how it is put together, and how it functions as an organism. Knowledge and skills students earn on the A&P classes serves the basis for many of the upper-level Health Science courses. In my Kinesiology class we apply laws of physics to describe human movement and how various biological tissues behave when mechanical forces are applied upon them. My Exercise Prescription class introduces students to fitness assessment and designing exercise programs specifically to preserve cardiovascular health. Within the Public Health concentration, I teach Epidemiology and Health Policy, which both are more discussion and group project-based courses.
In the new science building Health Science has two designated laboratories, one for anatomy and physiology, and one for exercise physiology. These spaces allow to engage students in research projects. My main research focus is in understanding biological tissue adaptive properties to physical activity. I’m also interested in physical activity and health outcomes research. Since I moved to Clarksville I adopted a stray cat, and two dogs. When I’m not at the university I enjoy taking my dogs for hikes and explore the countless trails nearby. I also enjoy horse riding. I started taking horse riding lessons when I was about 13 years old, and I’ve been hooked with horses for life ever since.