Professor, program director looks to impact SCSU students and the community

St. Cloud State University faculty member Dr. Kyle Reason is on a mission to change lives.

An assistant professor of exercise science at SCSU, Reason is also the program director for exercise science and graduate program director for clinical exercise physiology, and director of the Human Performance Lab and Husky Physical Activity and Wellness Center (Husky PAW).

“I wear a lot of hats,” he said.

Reason has long been drawn to exercise science as a field of study.

“I love sports and I love science. When I discovered I could combine the two, I thought that was the greatest thing in the world. But it was when I was working in a physical therapy clinic throughout undergrad that drove me into the clinical side of things,” he said. “I had a patient with a rare autoimmune disease that attacked their neuromuscular system. I remember going and seeing that patient and her goal was not to get back in the gym or get back on the field, but to hold her 2-month-old child for the first time, because her autoimmune disease wouldn’t let her do that. That just resonated with me — there's a whole population of people out there who have chronic illnesses, and there aren’t a lot of practitioners who specialize in that area. So that's what's driven me to be a clinical exercise physiologist.”

Reason hopes to inspire that sense of purpose in his students.

“What I want my legacy to be at SCSU is I want my students to be prepared for anything they're going to see out in the clinical field. I want them to develop not only technical skills, but also intellectual skills to ask the deeper questions of ‘Why does this happen?’ To use a multidisciplinary approach to health and wellness and to understand how social determinants of health are impacting our nation, and how health outcomes can be impacted by research,” he said. “I want my students really to have a holistic approach and not just be able to regurgitate information from a textbook, but think for themselves and have all the knowledge they need to solve real-world problems. That's how we've designed our programs and that's how I teach.”

Community outreach is an important component of Reason’s work, as is research. He applied for and was awarded two Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) grants for a total of $100,000 that will fund research through his SCSU programs. Through the grant, which is a partnership between St. Cloud State and CentraCare, students will conduct research on fall prevention for the elderly population. The next step is encouraging participants in the research program.

“It’s a really big issue, not only in our area, but in the nation. That population keeps growing, but we don't have all the research or all the data needed. That's where I'm stepping in and acquiring equipment for the Human Performance Lab that we would never be able to afford without these grants, to provide services and necessary research data to our health care partners,” Reason said. “One in four adults over the age of 60 fall every year. This impacts every family. Unfortunately, only a third of those people report that to their medical provider. The big problem is we have no way of predicting a fall. If we can have participation from the community in helping us create this new model, we can literally save lives.”

While the research study will be fully funded by CentraCare, Reason believes philanthropy would greatly benefit the Human Performance Lab and Husky PAW, in addition to SCSU students as a whole. In return, philanthropic support would extend to impacting the surrounding region.

“Having resources and the availability of state-of-the-art equipment and state-of-the-art facilities allows us to train the future practitioners of tomorrow. If our students can get exposed to these critical infrastructure pieces they're going to see in their field, we're creating better practitioners who are going to go have an impact in our community,” he said. “We could have a really large impact, not only on our campus, but also in the community. If we could roll out our health promotion and exercise medicine initiatives to the St. Cloud area, specifically to the area around SCSU — which is a historically underrepresented, under-researched and underfunded population of individuals — we could make a huge difference to that community and strengthen the bond between SCSU and St. Cloud.”

Those interested in supporting SCSU’s Human Performance Lab, Husky PAW or an area of their choice can do so at scsu.mn/give or by calling (320) 308-3984.