reilly john prof

Research interests

 Interventions to promote physical activity in children; Interventions to prevent and treat childhood obesity, in the developed and developing world; Physiological and epidemiological studies of the contribution of physical activity to the aetiology of childhood obesity; Effects of physical activity on cognition in childhood.

Evidence of Esteem-Current

1. Chair, UK Health Depts and BHF Working Group on Physical Activity Recommendations for the Early Years, 2009-2011.
2. Member of UK Health Depts and BHF Working Group on Physical Activity Recommendations for Children and Young People, 2009-2011.
3. Grants Committees: Finnish Academy of Sciences ‘SkidiKids’ Child Health Panel 2009-. German BMBF Obesity Competence Networks 2009-
4. Associate Editor, International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, 2006-.
5. h index in Feb. 2010 was 39.

Research Group, May 2011.

Postdoctoral and clinical fellows
Dr Ruth Bland (Clinical Research Lead, Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, Wellcome Trust funded 2009-2012). Aetiology of obesity in children and adolescents in rural South Africa.

Dr Laura Basterfield (MRC NPRI then CSO funded postdoctoral fellow, 2006-2011). Objectively measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and subsequent weight and fat gain in children in the Gateshead Millennium Study.

Plus 1 to be appointed (BUPA Foundation grant 2011-2013). Paradigm shift in use of physical activity in treatment and prevention of disease: associations between objectively measured physical activity and cognition in 11-13 year olds in ALSPAC.

PhD Students
Susan B Nielsen (CSO and Yorkhill Children’s Foundation-YCF- funded, 2006-2011). Energetic and behavioural adaptations to prolonged exclusive breast-feeding.

Eva Forbes (YCF funded 2009-2012; jointly supervised with Dr Bland). Physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and obesity in children and adolescents in rural KwaZulu Natal.

Wafa Sharifah Wafa (Malaysian Government funded, 2007-2010). Randomised controlled trial of a ‘good practice’ childhood obesity treatment intervention in Malaysia.

Dr Shurooq Boodai (Kuwaiti Government funded, 2008-2011). Randomised controlled trial of  an office-based intervention for treatment of childhood obesity in Kuwait.

Fahad Aldhafiri (Saudi Government funded 2008-2011). Obesity, metabolic syndrome, and bone health in long-term survivors of childhood ALL.

Dr Zubaida Alghaeed (Libyan Government funded MD, 2010-2013; jointly supervised with Dr JY Paton). Objectively measured sedentary behaviour in clinical populations of children.

Jane Hislop (QMU Edinburgh staff part-time PhD plus Physiotherapy Research Foundation funding, 2008-2013; jointly supervised with Profs T Mercer & C Bulley). Methodological refinements to accelerometry in pre-school children: a validation study.

Xanne Janssen (Australian Heart Foundation grant; 2010-2013). Cross validation of accelerometry prediction equations in young children using whole-body calorimetry.

Ryan Morrison (Carnegie Trust Dryerre Scholarship 2010-2013). Use of exercise with dogs to promote physical activity in children.

 

External Research Grants-Current & Last 5 Years ( PI denotes Principal Investigator)

Project Grants

(Currrent) Heart Foundation of Australia Grant-in Aid (G09S 4441; 2010-2012; £69,941, $125,635). AD Okely (PI), JJ Reilly, D Cliff, E Lillioja, M Batterham. Validity of accelerometry based energy expenditure equations in pre-school children: a whole-body calorimeter study.

(Current) Scottish Government Environmental Determinants of Public Health Consortium (EDPHIS). (2009-2011; £30,000). JJ Reilly (PI).Environmental determinants of obesity in young Scottish children: diet and physical activity.

(Current) BUPA Foundation (2011-2013; £78,150). JJ Reilly (PI). P Tomporowski, J Boyle, AR Ness, SD Leary, C Joinson, C Riddoch. Paradigm shift in use of physical activity in treatment and prevention of disease: associations between objectively measured physical activity and cognition in 11-13 year olds in ALSPAC.

Scottish Government Health Directorates Chief Scientist Office (2008-2010; £220,310). JJ Reilly (PI), CM Wright, AJ Adamson, L Basterfield, M Pearce, KN Parkinson. Role of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in the development of obesity in an urban cohort of children.

Scottish Executive Health Department Chief Scientist Office (2007-2010; £24,471). JJ Reilly (PI), JC Wells, M Fewtrell. Longitudinal studies of infant energy balance.

Scottish Executive Health Department Chief Scientist Office (2006 -2007; £14,768). JJ Reilly (PI), JY Paton, JE Boyle, S Grant, J McColl, PD Tomporowski, A Fisher. Effect of exercise on cognitive function in children: a pilot study for a larger randomised controlled trial.

Medical Research Council National Prevention Research Initiative (2006-2009; £477,320). A Adamson (PI), CM Wright, RF Drewett, L Parker, JJ Reilly. Early origins of obesity: developing strategies for intervention.

British Heart Foundation (2005-2007; £88,873). C Wright (PI), JJ Reilly, JH McColl, AR Ness. What determines leanness and fatness in childhood and how do they track over time?

Recently Completed Programme Grants

US National Institutes of Health (2003-2008; $2.4 million). C Riddoch (PI), AR Ness, S Blair, KR Fox, JJ Reilly et al. Physical activity and childhood obesity.

Wellcome Trust (2002-2007; £1,200,000). AR Ness (PI), DB Dunger, P Whincup, D Strachan, G Davey-Smith, JJ Reilly, J Golding, JCK Wells. Lifestyle and changes in body composition through puberty: a resource for the study of gene-environment interactions.

Member of the Physical Activity for Health Research Group