Keith Diaz, PhD

Keith Diaz, PhD is a certified exercise physiologist and the Florence Irving Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. He is Director of the Exercise Testing Laboratory and the Wearable Device Reading Center at the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health. He conducts laboratory- and observational-based research to elucidate the role of prolonged sedentary behavior in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease, with a specific focus of iteratively optimizing feasible, sustainable, and cost-effective guidelines for reducing prolonged sitting. He currently serves as PI for several federally funded research studies. His work on sedentary behavior has been featured by the New York Times(link is external and opens in a new window), CNN(link is external and opens in a new window), CBS News(link is external and opens in a new window), and NPR(link is external and opens in a new window), among many others. He also is an expert in physical activity monitoring and has conducted several studies evaluating the accuracy of consumer-based activity trackers such as those made by Fitbit. He regularly serves as an expert witness in criminal cases involving physical activity trackers.

Dr. Diaz also devotes his professional efforts toward individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He is the founder and Director of Project PossABILITY, a disability hiring program at Columbia University Medical Center. He also serves on the Fitness Advisory Committee for the Special Olympics.