Mary O. Whipple, PhD, RN, PHN, FSVM, FAHA, is an Assistant Professor in the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. Her research focuses on understanding the health effects of sedentary behavior and physical inactivity on older adults with chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and peripheral artery disease. Whipple aims to identify practical strategies that can be incorporated into daily life to help older adults increase their physical activity levels and reduce the time they spend sitting. She utilizes wearable activity monitors and techniques like flow-mediated dilation ultrasound to measure changes in vascular function with different activity patterns.

Tell us about your academic background, interests, and any relevant professional highlights.

“My commitment to aging science is deeply personal, rooted in watching my grandmother navigate the progressive loss of independence and her ultimate death from poorly controlled type 2 diabetes and its subsequent cardiovascular complications. This lived experience has fueled my 17-year career in clinical research, consistently dedicated to community-engaged science alongside racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse cohorts of older people.

My academic foundation is built on training in nursing, gerontology, and metabolism. I earned my PhD in Nursing with a minor in Gerontology from the University of Minnesota (UMN) in 2019 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus focused on the integrative physiology of aging and diabetes. Currently, as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the UMN School of Nursing, my research focuses on biobehavioral strategies that mitigate accelerated aging, optimize cardiometabolic health, and preserve functional independence for older adults living with chronic cardiovascular and metabolic conditions.”

 What led you to apply for the Fesler-Lampert Chair?

“While my recent research has been deeply rooted in clinical trials with older cohorts, supported by NIH and pilot grants, my work has primarily focused on immediate physiological and metabolic outcomes. However, health behavior change does not happen in a vacuum. Older adults experience unique, age-specific biopsychosocial shifts—such as post-retirement role transitions, changes in body composition, and physical or cognitive mobility barriers—that dictate their ability to implement lifestyle modifications.

To build interventions that succeed in real-world settings, it is critical to ground behavioral design in dedicated aging science and structural aging frameworks. The Fesler-Lampert Chair provides the perfect catalyst and protected time to do exactly that. It allows me to bridge the gap between laboratory-based physiological metrics and community preferences. Furthermore, I look forward to actively participating in CHAI’s Women in Aging Special Interest Group (SIG) and am eager to expand through interdisciplinary collaborations across the Center.”

What are some of the projects you plan to work on while F-L Chair? What do you hope to achieve?

“During my Fesler-Lampert Chair year, I will be finalizing the development and pilot testing of our “SitWISE for Diabetes” intervention. Older adults and people with T2D engage in high rates of sedentary behavior, which drives accelerated biological aging and increases cardiovascular risks. “SitWISE” targets this pattern through a phased, community-engaged approach:

• Phase 1 & 2 (Community Prioritization & Focus Groups): In partnership with our existing Community Advisory Board (CAB), we will rank evidence-based behavior change techniques to see what resonates. We will then host focus groups with older adults to explore daily barriers to interrupting sedentary behavior, ranging from managing joint stiffness during sit-to-stand transitions to choosing between customized paper logs or wearable smartbands.
• Phase 3 (Co-Creating the Program): We will develop a standardized, graphic-rich SitWISE Participant Guidebook and Intervention Manual featuring tailored, breaks that can be easily integrated into daily life.
• Phase 4 (Pilot Trial): We will run a 12-week pilot study with 10 older adults. Participants will wear accelerometers to track exact sitting patterns, alongside continuous glucose monitors to measure real-time blood sugar improvements during movement breaks.

Ultimately, this project will yield a community-validated, standardized intervention package and the vital pilot data needed to support a major federal grant application.”

 What are some of your professional and academic goals after the Chair ends?

“The Fesler-Lampert Chair is perfectly timed to serve as an operational bridge toward my transition to an independent investigator. My immediate post-Chair milestone is submitting a comprehensive NIH R01 grant application. Beyond federal funding, my long-term goals are to deepen my integration with the CHAI community. I plan to collaborate with CHAI leadership to explore the establishment of a new Cardiometabolic Health and Behavior Change Special Interest Group, bringing together UMN scholars from nursing, medicine, public health, and human development. Additionally, by embedding undergraduate and graduate student research assistants directly into this study, I hope to foster the next generation of clinical scientists equipped to navigate the complex health needs of our rapidly aging population.”