Elisabet Børsheim, PhD  (Elisabet Børsheim, PhD)

Research Overview

Dr. Børsheim is a Professor in both the Department of Pediatrics and Department of Geriatrics at UAMS, serves as the Director of the ACNC Physical Activity Core Laboratory and leads the Physical Activity, Energetics and Metabolism Research Lab. She has a B.Sc. in Sports Sciences and a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, and also a B.Sc. in Natural Sciences and a M.Sc. in Physiology from the University of Oslo, Norway. Before coming to Little Rock in 2013, she was the Metabolism Unit Director at Shriners Hospitals for Children – Galveston, and Associate Professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Her research interests are in the regulation of metabolic processes, specifically related to muscle protein, regional fat, and energy metabolism, and how physical activity affects health and development throughout the lifespan.

Phone: 501-364-1100

Research Interests

The overall aim of Dr. Børsheim’s research is to promote metabolic health starting from the very beginning of a human’s life and across the lifespan. Her research program focuses on effects of exercise and nutrition on optimal growth and development in children and in the prevention of disorders later in life. Through her work, she seeks to understand the consequences of inactivity and suboptimal nutrition on obesity and related metabolic disorders, and also to learn if maternal physical activity during fetal development (i.e., training during pregnancy) and physical activity during childhood can prevent and/or reverse these conditions. Her team is using stable isotope methodology to study energy and substrate metabolism. She directs a Physical Activity Core at the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center and a Metabolism Core in the Center of Biological Research Excellence (COBRE) “Center for Childhood Obesity Prevention”.