Tania Flink, Ph.D.

Dr. Tania Flink is a Professor of Physiology at LECOM-Bradenton.  She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for her BS degree (Bioengineering) and MS degree (Kinesiology). Her love for all things kinesiology led her to Arizona State University, where she obtained her Ph.D. in Exercise Science. She taught exercise science at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at a previous university before moving to Florida and directing a Masters’ program in exercise physiology. As an exercise scientist, I enjoy learning about and researching all aspects of health and wellness. My primary area of expertise is aging, specifically the systematic changes that occur in the body as we get older. My early research endeavors examined how hemispheric changes in the brain affect the microstructure and the laterality of our movements as we age. My research with exercise testing and prescription has led me to examine how exercise performance differs in a variety of populations, such as older adults, young adults, athletes, and children. In a recent project, my colleagues in speech-language pathology and I discovered that declines in physical fitness levels are related to declines in voice production in older adults; as such, there are vast implications for including physical fitness into traditional rehabilitation plans in individuals with vocal pathologies.

My goal at LECOM is to mentor students on meaningful research projects that help to promote exercise and wellness in different populations for the prevention of future pathologies. Some of my future research directions include:

• BPPV prevalence and its relation to seasonal Vitamin D deficiency
• Physical fitness in middle-aged adults and predictors of health and pathology in older age
• The status of health and physical fitness of medical students and students in other health professions, and the role of wellness programming
• Other great ideas that students may have