Mission and Vision
EHT’s mission is, through Health SJTU program, to encourage students, teachers and communities to exercise for fun and health. From the perspective of promoting health through exercise, the center takes advantage of research and knowledge in medicine, biology, engineering and management at SJTU, applying the concept of Cloud computing and Big data to build a research platform for health promotion. We aim to establish a nationally and internationally recognized research and development platform which is involved in education, research, knowledge translation, and community services. EHT is involved in research and innovations in the areas of health promotion and interventions, psycho-social factors associated with health behavior and chronic disease prevention.
The center gathers and educates outstanding talents to promote physical activity and health. EHT provides international scientific and technological exchanges and public platform for "study - research & development - production". EHT aims to be an example of national high-tech transfer center in the field of exercise promoting health.
In line with international standards, the center is creating an open research environment and academic atmosphere, focusing on rigor in the scientific research process to ensure that researchers can devote themselves to high-level research projects. In short, we adopt an "open, mobile, joint, competitive" principle. We emphasize the work of independent researchers and strive to be a home-like center for young people allowing them to pursue their ambitions in research; the focus is moreover on getting the industry leaders to support promising young researchers and research work, and to reduce administrative load. Except for a twice per month Center scientific meeting, the arrangement of other matters is done through network communications. The center will establish a clear reward system and ensure a fair and public evaluation of the process of hiring researchers, the use of funds, as well as research outcomes.
The center involves a wide range of internal and external part-time researchers and invites experienced scholars to participate in research projects. The center also aims to attract school teachers involved in student health research to play the leading role in health promotion in the field of physical education.
Recent main tasks
1) Building a research platform：cloud technology and big data technology are being used to plan structures to monitor physical fitness, exercise, nutrition, sleep, motivation and lifestyle. The ultimate goal is to improve college students’, staff members’ and other citizens’ health.
2) Research focus：to identify sensitive biological indicators for different types of exercise and obesity-related metabolic disorders using metabolomics and epigenetics platforms.
3) International exchanges and research collaborations：strengthening international collaboration including students exchange, research collaboration, and hosting symposiums.
Main research questions and challenges
1) How does exercise improve physical fitness through the brain - body (mind - body) axes.
a) Studying the effects of different exercise intensities on the brain and muscle function and their interactions by simultaneous monitoring EEG, EMG, ECG, medical imaging technology and molecular biology technology.
b) Follow-up studies on the relationship between exercise and early adolescent development, growth and cognitive development.
2) How to develop best exercise prescriptions to promote physical fitness based on gender, age, geography, genetics, physical fitness, nutrition, health status and other factors.
a) Providing knowledge for SJTU faculty members in chronic metabolic diseases (hypertension, obesity, osteoporosis, diabetes, etc.) and working on prevention by lifestyle intervention for high-risk groups.
b) Exploring effective prevention strategies for occupational diseases by the "office revolution", including development of an exercise rehabilitation program for neck and low back pain.
c) Investigating the status of physical fitness and lifestyle of SJTU students and establishing a database for follow-up. Based on the individual base level, building suitable exercise programs and encouraging students to participant in exercise for fun and fitness.
3) How to transfer basic research results into practice in exercise and health, and to make exercise program sustainable.
4) How to realize large-scale population exercise and health management and personalized health promotion programs.