Here we go again!

3-12-09: My first post for 2009! It's been a busy first couple of months in 2009, but I'm finally posting something here that's worth posting! We just finished up our Healthy People Conference: Lifestyle Medicine for Obesity and Diabetes, here at Loma Linda University.

Bryan Haddock and I presented a session on exergaming. He presented the latest research as well as the research that we have done together, while I presented what it is, how it can increase PA, how it is used in healthcare, research opps., and how the attendees could start incorporating it in their practice or facility.

There were a lot of SPH grad students there as well, so I tried to plant seeds to encourage them to consider doing their research in this area. We'll see if it worked!

I also had a chance to hear Dr. Toni Yancey, of UCLA. I always enjoy her presentations (we get to do some physical activity!) and we see each other a lot at various conferences around the country. Last saw her at the APHA conf. in San Diego last Oct. We're hoping to collaborate on some exergaming work with the LA youth that she does so much for, so stay tuned!


Also got to meet in person Dr. David Katz, the lead developer of the ONQI system, a rating system for food. It will be marketed on food and store shelves as NuVal, and he has come up with some game ideas to utilize it, so I'm helping to see what can be done in this area.


It was great to see so many former classmates from my grad school days, and many of them are interested in learning more about how to incorporate exergaming and games for health in their work.

All in all, a great time networking and getting the world of exergaming out to this group of healthcare professionals!

LA's Exergaming Evangelists!

12-15-08: No, I'm not talking about the city, LA, I'm talking about the STATE, Louisiana! Had 3 nurse practitioner students from Loyola Univ. in New Orleans, fly out for a day of brainstorming on exergaming research and to tour the Zone.

Imagine, they flew all the way out just to talk in person! They are really gung ho about this, and that is why they have earned the title, "The 3 Louisiana Exergaming Evangelists"!

They presented their powerpoint they gave for a class, and I must say, in just a short time, they have vaulted right up there with the rest of us in their thinking about this field. I look forward to future collaboration and research from these 3 newest Exergaming EvangelistsHere are the first 3 Louisiana Exergaming Evangelists (L-R): Tiffany, Amy (my initial contact), and Melissa. We welcome these 3 nurse practitioners into our exergaming family!

APHA gets into exergaming!

Nov. 30, 2008 - Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday! As I was preparing my powerpoint for the last conference I'm speaking at this year (Medical Fitness Assoc. in TX on Dec. 5), I realized I didn't update my blog from the last conference I attended, the American Public Health Assoc. down in San Diego at the end of October, so here it is!

After 16 years of having my masters and doctorate in public health, this is the FIRST time for me to attend my profession's assoc. conference, mainly because I do more clinical work and attend other conferences that deal with clinical health and promotion and of course, exergaming--like American College of Sports Medicine, Healthy People, Games for Health, etc. APHA tended to be more focused on policies and public health, such as sanitation issues, epidemiology, population-based public health, etc

However, I noticed a trend towards lifestyle-related diseases and interventions, enough so that I finally joined the APHA and since this year's conference was just a couple of hours away, I decided to go and check out how receptive they would be to exergaming.

What I found was that the APHA is ripe for games for health and exergaming! This is a picture of a session put on by the newly formed Special Interest Group (SIG) Health & Technology. Guess what the topic was? Games for Health! So even though it was in one of the surrounding hotels and not at the main convention center, it was well attended. They are very interested in having more games for health, exergaming, etc. sessions next year, so I joined this SIG to stay in touch with them.

At another session, I heard about the new physical activity guidelines that just came out from the DHHS in Oct. This is the first time our federal government has issued official guidelines for physical activity. I'm here with Rear Admiral Penelope Royall, who was key in pushing this through the DHHS for the last couple of years. I introduced her to the idea of exergaming, which she seemed very interested in.
Another speaking on this session's panel was Toni Yancey, MD, from UCLA. She is a very dyanmic speaker, and I thanked her afterwards for mentioning exergaming in her talk! We bump into each other at various obesity conferences here in CA so she knows all about exergaming and XRtainment Zone. ;-)
If you're in one of Dr. Toni's sessions, you don't sit the whole time! She gets the whole room up and moving! Interestingly, a lady I was sitting next to wanted a copy of this shot, and we exchanged contact info. Turns out she is involved with the formation of a new SIG for Physical Acitivty! (Imagine that APHA doesn't have this yet, given the impact exercise can have on public health). We got to talking about games for health and exergaming, and I told her I would definitely be interested in joining the PA SIG as well.
A special thanks to Beth & Games for Health for helping to sponsor my trip there. Since Beth was manning the booth all by herself (they, too, were wanting to test the waters there for games for health), she asked me if I would check out the sessions, network, etc. so I was happy to help out in this capacity.
There were other contacts made, and quite a few sessions on physical activity, obesity, etc. There was even a poster on Second Life and AIDS prevention. Overall, it seems that the APHA community is ripe for games for health and exergaming, so I look forward to seeing us represented there in the conferences to come!

XRTZ & Exergamefitness partner up!

10-13-08: Check out the press release by Exergamefitness on a new partnership between our two companies. We're looking forward to working with Tommy and Ed to spread exergaming to families who need it!

XRTZ officer lands spot on Oprah

10-15-08: Sheila Hodgkin, Development Officer, made it in the news this AM with her selection in an Oprah-sponsored women's leadership contest. You can read all about it in the San Bernardino Sun online article.

It mentioned her work with Andre Agassi, and here are some pictures from our recent trip to his gala for his schools.

Here's Sheila, hard at work with Andre, telling him how his school can benefit from having exergaming in it. Notice the XRTZ business card in his hand...great job, Sheila!

Also got to meet some other celebs there, like Dr. Knowlton here with David Foster....
Sheila and Judy Peterson (wife of COO Joel Peterson) with Nick Cannon and Mariah!
Sheryl Crow was very nice...
I was able to get in one picture with Steffi, one of my fave female tennis players...
Coach K was very friendly, shaking our hands and asking our names. I asked him how it was dealing with all of those NBA-sized egos and he said it wasn't hard at all because, "...they really wanted it (the gold)."
This was for Kim's 3 sons, who love watching Emeril on TV.

Lisa Hansen visits XRTZ!

9-1-08: Lisa Hansen, co-director of the XRKade Research Lab at the Univ. of South Florida, was in town to speak at the Int. Conf. on Physical Activity. This was her first time in the Loma Linda/Redlands area, so she just had to visit the 2 locations of XRTZ! It was great seeing here here on my "home turf", hearing her present, and touring her around.

Trying out the Gamercize

Exergaming Researchers gather in New Mexico

Aug. 21 & 22 - From Maine, we went to New Mexico State Univ., where a group of us our part of a 4-year CYFAR grant that started earlier this year. Headed by Barbara Chamberlin, of NMSU's Gaming Lab (what a cool place!), this was our first in-person get-together as a group. Over the next 2 days, we brainstormed the details of our grant and charted the course for the next 4 years.

Like Maine, it was great to meet everyone in person and deepen relationships that are difficult to do when you're rushing to and fro at conferences.

Thanks to the gang at NMSU for being such great hosts! You guys are the best!

Here we are, hard at work delving into the exergaming research.


Of course, we had to take breaks and play the exergames! Increase blood flow to the brain, of course!


For some of us, it was our first time to NM so we had opps to check it out.