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Nancy Rehrer image 2021Associate Professor
BA(Duke) MSc(Clemson) PhD(Maastricht) FACSM
Tel +64 3 479 9128
Email nancy.rehrer@otago.ac.nz

Background

Nancy Rehrer is an Associate Professor in the School of Physical Education, Sport & Exercise Sciences. She studied Environmental Biology at Duke University as an undergraduate and then completed a Master's in Nutrition at Clemson University and a PhD in Exercise Metabolism/ Nutritional Physiology at Maastricht University.

Dr Rehrer won The Dutch Prize for Sports Medicine in 1991 for her PhD thesis 'Limits to Fluid Availability During Exercise'. She is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. Dr Rehrer is also a member of The Nutrition Society (British). She has spent research leave time (2001) with colleagues at the Laboratory for Human Environmental Physiology at the Ames Research Ctr./NASA and at The Centre for Nutrition Research in Lyon (2013). She is on the editorial board of The International Journal of Sports Medicine and the Journal of Sports Medicine and is a reviewer for most of the major journals in Exercise Physiology and Sports Nutrition (eg. J. Appl. Physiol, Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Int. J. Sports Nutr. Exerc. Metab., etc.). She also has been an invited member of the expert panel to develop the consensus statement on exercise associated hyponatraemia 2008 and 2015.

Teaching

Programme Leader – BSc Exercise & Sport Science

Teaching co-ordination:

Teaching contributions:

Research

Dr Rehrer's major interests include understanding how metabolism is altered at rest and during exercise and mechanisms that limit human performance. Some of the research is sport performance based and some is related to health and general knowledge of human function in relation to the environment. Specific areas of recognised expertise include substrate metabolism, gastrointestinal function, fluid & electrolyte balance and impacts of exercise thereupon.

Recent projects:

  • Dr Rehrer is part of an interdisciplinary team evaluating effects of varying dietary polysaccharides on short chain fatty acid production by the gut microbiota.
  • She along with colleagues and postgraduate student, Colleen Gulick, has also been exploring the effects of protein and exercise on insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1).

Other research projects include:

  • Evaluating effects activities of daily life and different exercise modes have on energy and substrate utilisation, and health parameters
  • Using 13C isotopically labelled glucose and doubly labelled water to assess substrate and energy metabolism during exercise
  • Evaluating effects of sodium intake on fluid and sodium balance during exercise

Publications

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