Prof. Emily Murphy

mily Murphy is a Research Assistant Professor at West Virginia University in the Department of Pediatrics. By-trade she is a Pediatric Exercise Physiologist, with her research interest in childhood obesity. She is currently the Director of the West Virginia Games for Health Project. The WV Games for Health Project was initiated as a pilot study, that’s purpose was to look at the effects of an aerobic exercise intervention, using Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), on the cardiovascular risk profiles of at-risk and overweight children throughout the state. The WV Games for Health Project has now expanded into a state-wide school intervention, which is providing DDR equipment and tracking its impact on all public schools throughout the state. Dr. Murphy is also a co-investigator on the Coronary Artery Risk Detection In Appalachian Communities Project, which is a chronic disease risk surveillance and intervention initiative designed to combat the unacceptably high prevalence of heart disease and diabetes in West Virginia. Comprehensive in design, CARDIAC has two components, a school-based surveillance and intervention initiative, and a targeted individualized approach toward identification and referral for treatment those individuals with the most severe genetic cause of death from premature CVD: familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). CARDIAC is the first statewide CVD intervention program of its kind in the nation. Since its inception in 1998, CARDIAC has grown from a small school-based CVD surveillance project piloted in three rural WV counties to an expanded multidimensional effort involving all of the state's 55 counties. She is a co-investigator on a study through the US Department of Agriculture. This project’s goal is to better understand the impact of exergames on obesity prevention, including physical, psychosocial and familial effects, through valid, documented, replicable research. She is also the principal investigator on a grant from Special Olympics, Inc looking at the health benefits of using DDR with individuals with intellectual disabilities.