Award Honors a Lifetime of Achievement
Dr. Joseph (Joe) A. Houmard, professor of kinesiology in East Carolina University’s College of Health and Human Performance, has been recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity.
With over three decades of dedicated service to ECU, Houmard’s contributions to the field of exercise physiology, particularly in skeletal muscle metabolism and the prevention and treatment of obesity and diabetes, have left a mark on both the academic community and clinical practice.
Houmard, who holds the Dr. LeRoy Walker Endowed Professorship of Kinesiology, has led the Human Performance Laboratory at ECU for more than 30 years and was a founding member of the East Carolina Diabetes and Obesity Institute. Throughout his career, he has secured over $16 million in external research funding and published more than 225 peer-reviewed articles in journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Diabetes, and Cell Metabolism. His work has been cited over 32,000 times, underscoring the lasting impact of his research.
Pioneering Research in Exercise Physiology
An athlete at a young age, Houmard’s interest in his field was born out of a love for competitive running.
“I ran cross country and track in high school and college and always wondered how to get better and how to get faster, and I also had an interest in science,” said Houmard.
Houmard said that led him to study biochemistry, chemistry and physiology. It also led to an interest in studying athletes as a doctoral student at Ball State University. There, he worked with athletes trying to understand the science behind improving speed and endurance and identifying effective training methods that contributed to peak performance.
Dr. Joseph Houmard received the Lifetime Achievement Award during ECU’s Research and Scholarship Awards Ceremony on March 4.
As his research progressed, he saw the potential for exercise beyond sports. The shift came with postdoctoral work at ECU, where he expanded his focus from athletes to health and well-being in different populations.
“Studying athletes was on one end of the spectrum; on the other was studying those who were sedentary, trying to get them to exercise, but more importantly, figure out why exercise is good for the body. I wanted to give exercise more of a scientific application for people who needed to exercise,” Houmard said.
Continuing his career at ECU, Houmard built partnerships in researching exercise’s impact on metabolic health. Dr. Lynis Dohm, professor emeritus in the Department of Physiology, is one of Houmard’s longtime research partners.
“He has been at the leading edge of this interaction between obesity and diabetes and exercise. He practically thinks about what the effect of exercise would be on people who have these metabolic problems,” said Dohm. “It’s a very important area to try to understand how exercise can be applied to all kinds of chronic diseases. So, he’s been at the forefront of trying to understand how that works and what are the mechanisms involved.”
As the ECU site principal investigator for the multi-institutional Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC), a $170 million initiative funded through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Houmard played a key role in studying how various organs responded to exercise at a molecular level.
Another influential research effort was his role in the Studies of Targeted Risk Reduction Interventions Through Defined Exercise (STRRIDE) trials, a series of large-scale studies examining how different types of exercise affect metabolism and health. The research showed that moderate-intensity exercise can significantly improve how the body processes sugar and fats, helping shape exercise recommendations worldwide.
“We found that it takes very little exercise to make a person healthier,” Houmard said. “They don’t have to be marathon runners. Walking at a brisk pace can improve your health status and how your body responds to what you eat. And you don’t need to lose weight to gain a lot of the benefits of exercise.”
His findings have been widely recognized and have influenced exercise recommendations for managing diabetes and metabolic health.
Mentorship and Leadership
Beyond his research, Houmard’s legacy is marked by his dedication to mentorship and education. He has mentored more than 35 master’ s students, nine doctoral candidates and three postdoctoral researchers, many of whom have gone on to make significant contributions in academia and clinical research.
Dr. Nicholas Broskey, assistant professor of kinesiology, feels Houmard’s mentorship has influenced his success.
“Joe has been a mentor of mine since I started here at ECU,” he said. “He is so knowledgeable, especially when it comes to grant writing and scientific publications. He was a standing member of NIH study sections for research grants. He has so much insight, and he’s really been pivotal for my own success in obtaining NIH funding.”
“This is my first faculty position, so in the beginning, I was hesitant to go for the larger NIH grants, but Joe really encouraged me. He would say, ‘No, you’re ready. Go for it,’” said Broskey.
Dr. Alec Chaves, a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University and former doctoral student at ECU, said Houmard encouraged him in his career.
“Joe did a great job of showing me what I was capable of and showing me that he believed in me and in my ability to think critically and essentially do science — to become a professional in science,” said Chaves.
“He is extremely selfless with his time and with his resources. So, not only does his work alone make him deserving of the Lifetime Achievement Award, but it’s the things he did for others that went relatively unnoticed. Anytime I needed help, he was more than willing to give it. He just wants the best for others,” Chaves added.
Houmard said he knows the importance of mentoring others.
“I come back each day because I had really good mentors,” said Houmard. “I want to use my experience to help others with their research, and I hope I can help mentor others to be successful.”
“I think as faculty members, our best legacy is to have the work of our students be at the leading edge of research. He’ s done a really good job of training them well and mentoring them. If you’ re a good mentor, you turn out good students and postdocs. And he’ s certainly done that,” said Dohm.
“Seeing former doctoral students do great work and make impactful discoveries is something I’m most proud of,” Houmard said.
A Lifelong Commitment
Houmard’s achievements are remarkable, as is his unwavering commitment to ECU. Having joined the university in 1988 as a postdoctoral research fellow, he has helped transform ECU into a leader in exercise physiology and metabolic research.
“You cannot write exercise physiology textbooks without Joe Houmard, and this is across multiple areas of exercise physiology. If you were to generate a Mount Rushmore for exercise physiology, you can’t do that without Joe Houmard,” said Chaves.
“He’s done so much at East Carolina for the advancement of research, and he’s been really influential in bringing pieces together. There’s the Obesity and Diabetes Institute and the development of the bioenergetics program,” said Dohm.
The establishment of ECU’s interdisciplinary doctoral program in bioenergetics and exercise science has become a cornerstone of the university’s research initiatives in metabolic health.
“We’ve developed a good program here — undergraduate all the way up to postdocs,” Houmard said. “We’ve been able to do research that competes against the Yales and the Harvards.”
“We had to prove ourselves early on but eventually developed a good reputation, and we’ve been able to get a lot done,” he added.
In accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award, Houmard expressed gratitude to his colleagues, students and the university.
“This honor is a reflection of the incredible support and collaboration I have received at ECU,” he said. “It takes a lot of people to do this work, from students, staff, faculty, nurses and doctors. I am deeply grateful to all who have been a part of this journey.”
Because of the collaboration he found across his career at ECU, Houmard feels the award includes many others.
“It’s an honor to receive the award, and it makes me look back over my career. There’s a lot to be thankful for,” he reflected. “But, it’s not just about me. It should be Joseph Houmard, et al.”
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