{"id":103245,"date":"2025-07-14T15:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T19:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=103245"},"modified":"2025-07-14T17:04:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T21:04:30","slug":"distinguished-prof-a-champion-for-youth-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/07\/distinguished-prof-a-champion-for-youth-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Distinguished Prof a champion for youth health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brock University\u2019s Distinguished Professor designation is a lifetime appointment recognizing outstanding achievement in each recipient\u2019s academic discipline. This series of articles highlights this year\u2019s recipients. Read more about the award and its recipients <\/em>on The Brock News<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Panagiota (Nota) Klentrou has spent more than 25 years helping young people around the world lead healthier lives.<\/p>\n

Her groundbreaking work in exercise physiology has transformed how researchers and practitioners view youth development, sport training and bone health in Canada and across the globe.<\/p>\n

In honour of her impactful career as a researcher, mentor and academic leader, Klentrou was recently named one of Brock\u2019s newest Distinguished Professors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very exciting,\u201d she said of receiving the University\u2019s highest academic honour. \u201cI\u2019m deeply grateful of this recognition of my lifelong contributions to science, student development and the Brock community.\u201d<\/p>\n

An international leader in her field, Klentrou explores the health effects of sport training in children and youth, investigating how physical activity, nutrition, adiposity, inflammation and hormonal maturation affect musculoskeletal growth and development.<\/p>\n

Her research, which includes 147 peer-reviewed publications, has shown that early puberty is a critical window when weight-bearing exercise can significantly enhance bone strength. She has also found that obesity may blunt bone-building responses to exercise and elevate inflammatory markers in youth and has helped clarify how diet interacts with exercise to support optimal bone development during adolescence.<\/p>\n

Her work has been supported through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Genome Canada, the Canadian Space Agency and the Dairy Farmers of Canada.<\/p>\n

Klentrou has earned numerous accolades throughout her career, including Brock\u2019s Award for Distinguished Research and Creative Activity, the Chancellor\u2019s Chair for Research Excellence and multiple student-nominated awards for mentorship and teaching excellence.<\/p>\n

She was elected President of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) in 2018, became a CSEP Fellow in 2020 and received the Society\u2019s Honour Award<\/a> in 2023 for her exceptional contributions to exercise physiology in Canada.<\/p>\n

Since joining Brock in 1996, Klentrou, who is now Dean of the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, has held several leadership roles, including four terms as Chair of the Department of Kinesiology and three as Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies. She also serves as Chair of the University Senate and has led many committees focused on research and scholarship policy, graduate studies, information technology and infrastructure, priorities and budgeting.<\/p>\n

Beyond Brock, the retired international rhythmic gymnast and mother of three elite athletes lends her expertise to organizations such as Osteoporosis Canada and the International Gymnastics Federation. She has contributed to international sporting events, including the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens and the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.<\/p>\n

At the heart of Klentrou’s work is a passion for mentoring the next generation of scientists. She has supervised more than 130 undergraduate and graduate students and sees her work in research, teaching and administration as inextricably linked. Known across Brock for her energy and student-centred approach, she is driven to pass on her knowledge and passion to future scientists.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch doesn\u2019t always give you answers; it often raises more questions,\u201d she says. \u201cOne of my goals is to mentor students who will go on to answer those questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In guiding students through today\u2019s fast-paced, digital world, she encourages them to slow down and think deeply, a practice she believes is essential to scientific discovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cScience is not a quick process. It takes time,\u201d says Klentrou. \u201cOur students are incredibly capable, especially with technology, and I believe they can do wonderful things \u2014 if they give themselves the time to breathe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her journey as an immigrant, mother, educator and research has taught her the importance of adaptability and collaboration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always believed in team building,\u201d she said. \u201cFrom the beginning, we worked together \u2014 applying for grants, sharing labs and growing the program \u2014 and that spirit has always stayed with me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panagiota (Nota) Klentrou has spent more than 25 years helping young people around the world live healthier lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":103254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,7484,7,1],"tags":[6551,8094,3810,8563,6789,10206,2194,8480,2149,4545,996,10184,13675,2147,7488,3258,5541,5505,3335,3330,1983,12698,8562,10548,14590,2195,3152,3811,6886,10365,1131,13748,3325,2196,3331,2150],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103245"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103245"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103265,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103245\/revisions\/103265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}