Center for Research on Physical Activity, Sport & Health
Research designed to make a difference.
The D'Youville Center for Research on Physical Activity, Sport & Health (CRPASH) designs, conducts, and disseminates cutting-edge research on the links among physical activity, sport, and health. CRPASH operates as an organizational catalyst for interdisciplinary research projects that foster education, policy development, and public health initiatives. We also specialize in getting knowledge and policy "off the shelf" and into communities, schools, and media, where it promises to impact people's lives.
CRPASH was endowed in 2002 by a generous gift from Deborah Slaner Larkin through the MARGARET Fund.
CRPASH Directors
DON SABO, FOUNDING DIRECTOR AND SENIOR ADVISOR
Don Sabo, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus, Health Policy, at D'Youville, where he founded CRPASH. He is the former Research Director of the Women's Sports Foundation, and currently serves as its Senior Health Policy Advisor. Professor Sabo is considered one of the most important empirical researchers in the United States on girls and women in sport, especially as related to youth sports, education and health, and the struggle for gender equity in sport. He has also written extensively about boys' and men's health for more than two decades.
Professor Sabo is the former president of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, and a frequently invited speaker and keynoter on campuses and for conferences. He keynoted a national conference on women's sports leadership at the U. of Minnesota's Tucker Center (2011) and is a featured speaker at an upcoming November 2012 national summit on youth sport and education at the LA84 Foundation.
On October 20, 2015, Dr. Don Sabo was honored with the Billie Jean King Contribution Award at the 36th Annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards gala held by the Women's Sports Foundation. This honor recognizes an individual or organization who has made a significant contribution to the development and advancement of women's sports. Dr. Sabo's pioneering research is a catalyst for the advancement of girls and women in sports and uncovers the lifelong benefits of participation on their health and well-being.
RENEE CADZOW, DIRECTOR
Renee Cadzow, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Health Services Administration at D'Youville. She joined D'Youville in August 2012 after working previously as research faculty in the SUNY at Buffalo Department of Family Medicine and as the Evaluation Director for the New York State Area Health Education Center System. She has collaborated with WNY school districts to implement system-wide changes to policy, environment, and programs that emphasize improved nutrition and physical activity behaviors. Her research focuses on the prevention of childhood obesity.
As a public health advocate, she serves on two area school district wellness committees, including as the co-director of the School Wellness Advisory Team (SWAT) focused on advising the implementation of the district's wellness policy. She is Board Co-Chair of the Community Health Worker Network of Buffalo and a board member the Buffalo Prenatal Perinatal Network. She is also a member of the of the Healthy Start, Healthy Future for All coalition. She has worked closely with western New York Community partners to advocate for environment and policy changes in support of breastfeeding, which is strongly related to later life health and well-being for both moms and children. Dr. Cadzow is also a mom to four young children who keep her very active.