overview

• September 2021
  Brief Summary of Dr. Paul DeVita's Work:
  I have been Assistant and Associate Professor and Professor at ECU in the Department of Kinesiology, all since 1995. I am currently Professor Emeritus in the same Department. I am a locomotion Biomechanist with 38 years of research experience and I have published more than 100 highly cited, peer-reviewed, research papers. These papers have centered on adaptations to gait Biomechanics with healthy aging, ACL injury, knee osteoarthritis, and obesity. I have been an integral member of an NIH funded research group centered at Wake Forest University and conducting large, randomized clinical trials investigating the effects of diet, exercise and combinations of diet and exercise in overweight and obese people with knee osteoarthritis. We have been continuously funded since 2006. I created the biomechanical knee model that has been a central focus on at least three of these trials, the Intensive Diet and Exercise for Arthritis (IDEA) study, the Strength Training for Arthritis Trial (START), and The Osteoarthritis Prevention Study (TOPS). I am one of the very few researchers with publications on knee joint loads before and after weight loss in adults who are obese but otherwise healthy and also in overweight or obese adults with knee osteoarthritis. While I am known for contributions to the literature on the topics listed above, my overall contribution to the scientific literature has been to identify biomechanical plasticity due to injury, disease, and aging and to identify further adaptations due to exercise, physical activity and weight loss. People adapt positively and negatively to various changes in their health and physical characteristics and the identification and understanding of these adaptations leads to improved health for everyone. My research success is due to wonderful collaborators such as Steve Messier, Ph.D. at Wake Forest and Tibor Hortobagyi, Ph.D. formerly at ECU and to excellent M.S. students over the years.
  
  I am a Past-Treasurer (2006-2010) and Past-President (2014-2016) of the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB) and the creator and director of National Biomechanics Day, an annual worldwide STEM event that introduces Biomechanics to high school students. I am a Fellow of the ASB, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the National Academy of Kinesiology and a recent recipient of Career Research Awards from East Carolina University (2017) and the Biomechanics Interest Group of the ACSM (2016). I have served the profession through membership of two NIH Study Sections (grant review panels).