Clinical Exercise Science, Health and Fitness Promotion, Gerokinesiology

Debbie Rose, Professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Co-Director of the Center for Successful Aging, and Kinesiology Graduate Program Coordinator teaches and conducts research in the area of motor control and learning, and balance and mobility disorders, in particular. Dr. Rose is nationally and internationally recognized for her work in the area of fall risk reduction programming and currently serves as the Co-Director of the Fall Prevention Center of Excellence, housed at the University of Southern California. Her research in the area of fall risk reduction in the elderly has been published inmany national and international peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and books. Her work in this area is also well supported by a number of research grants (exceeding $2.5 million). She is a fellow of the Research Consortium of AAPHERD and the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education (AAKPE). She currently serves as the Co-Editor-In-Chief (with C. Jessie Jones, PhD) of the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity.

Dr. Rose’s research is focused on the development of effective fall-risk screening and assessment tools that can be used to predict fall risk as well as fall risk reduction programs for older adults at all stages of risk.

Dr. Rose is currently involved in the development and implementation of multi-site randomized clinical controlled trials to test “Best Practice” models in fall risk reduction. She is also developing and testing the efficacy of an aquatic fall-risk reduction program which is modeled after the successful land-based FallProof™ program that currently operates in numerous community-based facilities in California and other states in the U.S.