Associate Professor Amanda Grimes, Ph.D.

Dr. Grimes is an Associate Professor of Health Sciences in the UMKC School of Nursing and Health Studies. She received both her master's degree and doctorate in health sciences at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. She joined UMKC in 2013 and helped to build the health sciences program, of which was developed in 2011. Her research focuses on physical activity and the associated health and social influences across demographic groups. Her work is guided by ecological models that posit multiple levels of influence on physical activity. Her recent work has focused on community-based interventions to address chronic diseases associated with physical inactivity.

One of her noted research projects, Move More Get More, was funded with a nearly $800,000 grant from the Office of Women’s Health in the US Department of Health and Human Services to assess an intervention to improve physical activity, physical literacy, and fruit and vegetable consumption among middle schoolers in Kansas City. Dr. Grimes is the Co-Director of the Active Lab, which supports community-based research to promote physical activity and improve health outcomes. The lab also provides graduate and undergraduate training in public health research, including 10 positions through Public Health AmeriCorps grant.

Dr. Grimes was honored with the Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research, Scholars, and Artists in 2022 and was selected to be a UM System Presidential Engagement Fellow in 2021. She is an active member of the Physical Activity section of the American Public Health Association and was a founding leader of SOPHE Midwest.