NEACSM

Welcome to NEACSM’s History Webpage.  In 2013 NEACSM formed an ad hoc committee to begin gathering materials to help capture the rich history of NEACSM over the past 40 years.  In that time we have gathered pictures, MAX! Newsletters, annual reports and many other items along the way to help us tell NEACSM’s history.  Additionally we have conducted interviews, both personally and electronically to further capture our history.  

 

This is an ongoing project that has now become a standing committee and one that we foresee continuing for quite a while into the future.  If you have any items that you think would be valuable for us, please share them.  In the meantime, please enjoy the following materials available to present on this website:

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Meet our Past Presidents

Browse reflections by many of our Past Presidents, who have provided insight on their own personal experiences in the field.

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2023: Marisa Hastie, PhD, FACSM

2022: Colleen Munoz, PhD

2021: Elizabeth O'Neill, DPE

2020: Paul Gallo, EdD, FACSM

2019: Dain Laroche, PhD, FACSM

2018: Jason Melnyk, PhD

2017: Janet Whatley-Blum, ScD

2016: Melissa Roti, PhD, FACSM

2015: Lara Carlson, PhD, FACSM

2014: Sean Walsh, PhD, FACSM

2013: Jeffrey M. Anderson, MD, FACSM

2012: William J. Kraemer, PhD, FACSM

2011: Laurie Milliken, PhD, FACSM

2010: Robert Kenefick, PhD, FACSM

2009: Jaci L. VanHeest, PhD

2008: Peter Ronai, MS, FACSM

2007: Lara Carlson, PhD, FACSM

2006: Declan AJ Connolly, PhD, FACSM

2005: Charlie Chatterton, PhD, FACSM

2004: John Castellani, PhD, FACSM

2003: Stella Lucia Volpe, PhD, FACSM

2002: Nancy E. O'Hare, ScD, FACSM, MBA

2001: Deborah Riebe, PhD, FACSM

2000: Patty Freedson, PhD, FACSM

1999: Kyle McInnis, ScD, FACSM

1998: Dino Costanzo, MA, FACSM

1997: Mary Jane DeSouza, PhD, FACSM

1996: Robert S. Axtell, PhD, FACSM

1995: Priscilla M. Clarkson, PhD, FACSM

1994: Carl M. Maresh, PhD, FACSM

1993: Bernie Clark, MD, FACSM

1992: Lawrence E. Armstrong, PhD, FACSM

1991: Linda Pescatello, PhD, FACSM

1990: Thomas Manfredi, PhD

1989: Carol Ewing Garber, PhD, FACSM

1988: Thomas Rowland, MD, FACSM

1987: Donald A. Mahler, MD

1986: David N. Camaione, PhD, FACSM

1985: Gary S. Skrinar, PhD, FACSM

1984: Beverly Bullen, ScD

1983: Lee Cunningham, DPE, FACSM

1982: Robert Cantu, MD, FACSM

1981: W. Jay Gillespie, EdD, FACSM

1980: Lyle Micheli, MD, FACSM

1979: Lorraine Bloomquist, EdD, FACSM​

1978: James A. Vogel, PhD

1977: Carl S. Christensen, PhD, FACSM

1976: Michael Goldman, MD

1975: Roger G. Soule, PhD

1974: L. Howard Hartley, MD

1973: Wayne E. Sinning, PhD

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NEACSM’s History Overview​​

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NEACSM Student Award History

 

 

NEACSM’s Origins

By Howard “Skip” Knuttgen
“In the early 1960’s, there weren’t more than a dozen persons in the six New England states involved in research in exercise physiology.  For the next few years, the number of such persons grew slowly.  In 1965, I (Skip Knuttgen) organized an “Exercise Physiology Group” that consisted of approximately 20 physicians and scientists who were working in New England in the conduct of research in exercise physiology.  (It can be noted that “biomechanics” didn’t exist at that time either as an area of research or as a scientific term related to sport and exercise performance!)  The physicians and scientists came from Boston University, Harvard University, University of Massachusetts, Springfield College, the U.S. Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine (Natick, Mass.), and the Pierce Foundation Laboratory (New Haven).  We began to meet on one occasion per year with each meeting hosted by one of the locations. The one-day meeting consisted of a full-day scientific program with the presentation of research papers and a social luncheon, usually with a guest speaker.  The first meeting was held at Boston University and the guest speaker was Prof. Will Forbes, MD, PhD, then retired but, at one time, the Director of the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory.  Eventually, other individuals interested in exercise physiology and sports medicine appeared at Northeastern University, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Connecticut and they were included in the group that continued for another 8 years.  When the American College of Sports Medicine decided in 1972 to organize a program of regional chapters, we in New England gave the reply that we already had the equivalent of a regional chapter that was well-organized, energetic, and productive.  The meeting of the Exercise Physiology Group in 1973 was hosted at Springfield College and it was decided to obtain the approval of our Group by the ACSM as the regional chapter for the six New England States.  This is how the New England Regional Chapter of ACSM came to be.”

According to Carl Christensen:
“The one thing I do remember from our exercise sciences interest group was in one of the meetings we were discussing who would be the president etc of the organization (NEACSM) and it was decided that in turn the five members at the table would be the first to serve.  I became the last of the five to serve!”

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