Steven N. Blair is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Exercise Science and Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina. Dr. Blair is a Fellow in the American College of Epidemiology, Society for Behavioral Medicine, American College of Sports Medicine, American Heart Association, The Obesity Society, The European Society of Preventive Medicine, Retired Fellow: The Royal Society of Medicine-London, and American Kinesiology Academy; and was elected to membership in the American Epidemiological Society.
Dr. Blair is a past-president of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity, and the American Kinesiology Academy. Dr. Blair is the recipient of four honorary doctoral degrees--Doctor Honoris Causa degree from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium; Doctor of Health Science degree from Lander University, U.S.; Doctorem Medicinae Honoris Causa, Southern Denmark University; and Doctor of Science Honoris Causa, University of Bristol, UK. He has received awards from many professional associations, including a MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health, ACSM Honor Award, Population Science Award from the American Heart Association, and is one of the few individuals outside the U.S. Public Health Service to be awarded the Surgeon General's Medallion. He has delivered lectures to medical, scientific, and lay groups in 50 states and 50 countries. His research focuses on the associations between lifestyle and health, with a specific emphasis on exercise, physical fitness, body composition, and chronic disease. He has published more than 700 papers and chapters in the scientific literature, and is one of the most highly cited exercise scientists with over 60,000 citations to his body of work, and an h-Index of 114. He has been listed as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds by Thompson Reuters. He was the Senior Scientific Editor for the U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health.