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David Conroy
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David Conroy, PhD, FACSM, FSBM

  • Bickner Chair, Applied Exercise Science
  • Professor, Applied Exercise Science
  • Michigan Impact Professor
  • Director, Motivation Laboratory
  • Director, Roybal Center for Promoting Adherence to Behavior Change & Enhancing Cognitive Function
  • Graduate Faculty, Movement Science

About

David E. Conroy, PhD, is professor and Bickner Chair of Applied Exercise Science at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology. He is also director of the Motivation Lab and Roybal Center for Promoting Adherence to Behavior Change & Enhancing Cognitive Function. His primary interest involves developing behavioral interventions that target motivational processes to promote health behaviors that enable people to live long, health filled and happy lives. The goal of these interventions is to make healthy lifestyles less effortful and more enjoyable.

Dr. Conroy has published more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and is a member of seven journal editorial boards. He recently served on the 2022 Science Board for the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, & Nutrition, and previously served as a consultant for the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee. He is a Past President of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and currently serves as a member of the Lifestyle Change and Behavioral Health study section for the NIH Center for Scientific Review.

Dr. Conroy is the principal investigator for two ongoing just-in-time behavioral intervention research trials – one involving a precision text messaging intervention for insufficiently-active young adults (funded by NHLBI) and the other involving a digital tool for tracking and prompting fluid intake with patients who have had kidney stones (funded by NIDDK). He serves as co-principal investigator on a methods-focused project focused on physical activity tracking in older adults (funded by NSF). As a co-investigator, he collaborates on physical activity intervention trials with rural adults (funded by NCI) and older adult (funded by NIA). To learn more about these projects, point your browser to motivation.kines.umich.edu or follow him on Twitter (@conroylab).

  • Michigan Research Expert Profile

Areas of Interest

Motivation, habit formation and automaticity, behavioral intervention, digital health, adherence to behavior change, healthy aging

Contact

Address

SKB 3328

830 North University
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048
United States

Phone

(734) 764-3474

Email

[email protected]

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Website

Classes

Course Course Title Credits Term
KINESLGY 685 Res Rotation in Kin 3 - 6 Fall, Spring, Summer, Winter
MOVESCI 629 Lab Mtr Cnt Dev 1 - 3 As Arranged, Fall, Winter

News

HealthDay: Increasing Walk Cadence Counters Frailty Among Seniors, Study Says
July 21, 2025
WebMD: Why Step Count Remains the Most Impactful Fitness Stat
February 28, 2025

Sok Spotlight

David Conroy
Professor and applied exercise science program chair
August 29, 2024
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School of Kinesiology
830 N. University Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048
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