Martica Heaner, PhD MA MEd

Adjunct Associate Professor of Nutrition, Hunter College, New York City

Journalist, editor and reviewer in healthcare, nutrition and exercise physiology fields

Fitness instructor and personal trainer

Martica Heaner, PhD MA MEd, has been an award-winning and multiply certified instructor/trainer, as well as writer and media presenter, in the fitness field throughout her adulthood.  She has further focused her research, writing and academic instruction upon the interface between nutrition and exercise physiology, having completed masters degrees in Applied Exercise Physiology and Nutrition in 2006, and a PhD in Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity in 2009, at Columbia University.  She has served as Adjunct Associate Professor of Nutrition at Hunter College, New York City, since 2010.  She has there taught courses such as “Research Methods in Nutrition and Food Science” and “Nutrition I” for undergraduate students and “Food Politics and Policy” for graduate students in nutrition and public health.

Dr. Heaner served for five and a half years as Staff Research Associate, then Adjunct Associate Research Scientist, in the Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University Medical Center on an experimental trial in conjunction with 3 obesity physicians.  They studied biochemical changes in muscle fibers and other physiological changes in response to  resistance training during and after weight loss, documenting, among other things, increased efficiency of muscle fibers.

Among the awards Dr. Heaner has earned throughout her career, are United Kingdom National Fitness Leader of the Year (voted by the members of Fitness Professionals, the largest instructor organization in the UK and Europe), British Aerobics Championship Mixed Pairs Silver Medal, Gold Certification by the American Council on Exercise, and an FITT grant for development of an e-textbook in research methods.  She also served as Consulting Health Editor for an for an award-winning video produced by the British BBC and American ABC networks for The Human Body TV series, writing and editing health-related content, devising a fitness program and demonstrating filmed exercises.  She is currently certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA), and earned a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and e-Cornell.

Dr. Heaner is the author of 8 books, including Cross-training for Dummies, and has written hundreds of service and news/investigative feature articles on health, nutrition and fitness issues for the New York Times, Shape, Fitness, Self, Glamour, Men’s Health and other publications.  She has served as Managing Editor of the peer-reviewed research journal Obesity, and Fitness Director of G+J USA / Fitness Magazine.  She has also worked as a freelance health, fitness and/or nutrition editor on a project or adjunct basis at various magazines, such as:  Health, Fitness Magazine UK, ZEST (National Magazines UK), GQ (UK), International Masters Publishers, Glamour and Redbook.

Dr. Heaner has for three decades served as a fitness instructor at various health clubs in Houston TX, London, England, Northampton MA and New York City.  Her long-time plant-based lifestyle fuels the 10 or more group fitness classes she continues to teach every week.