Sofiya Alhassan

Sofiya Alhassan (born July 6, 1974) is a Ghanaian-American kinesiologist and academic administrator who researches community family-based physical activity interventions. She has worked as a professor and graduate program director of the kinesiology department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences since 2007.In 2023, she became the associate dean for inclusion and engagement of the graduate school.Alhassan was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology in 2023.She is an editor of the Journal of Physical Activity and Health.

Quotes

• Currently, there is no scientific information on mother-daughter physical activity programs in African-Americans
  • [1]
• We are trying to recruit moms and daughters now because we have to get their baseline measures
  • [2]
• Being an African-American woman, I am very passionate about improving the levels of our African-American children. For this program we are defining 'mother' as the primary female role model living with the girl
  • [3]
• "I am also trying to partner up with local organizations to get food donations so that we can provide dinner for mom and daughter, so that mom does not have to go home after the program to make dinner,"
  • [4]
• "The reason we are dividing it into two years is that we do not have the resources to complete the entire sample in one year
  • [5]
• "Increasing physical activity has been shown to improve children's academic performance, how they feel, their classroom behavior, and their risk of obesity and diabetes."
  • [6]