Kathryn Schmitz was honored by the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition

Kathryn Schmitz, an exercise oncology researcher in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Hillman Cancer Center, has won the Lifetime Impact Award from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition.

The federal advisory committee aims to promote healthy eating and physical activity for all people, regardless of background or ability and awards the Lifetime Impact Award yearly to individuals who have greatly contributed to the advancement or promotion of physical activity, fitness, sports or nutrition nationwide.

An exercise oncology researcher at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Schmitz is perhaps best known for her studies on weight lifting for women at risk of breast cancer-related lymphedema, one published in 2009 in the New England Journal of Medicine and one published in 2010 in JAMA. This research was instrumental in the creation of the Strength After Breast Cancer national physical therapy program.