Steve Foulkes

Steve is a Clinical Exercise Physiologist and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta and the Sports Cardiology lab at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute. He completed his PhD in exercise cardio-oncology at Deakin University and the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute (2021), which was awarded the Exercise and Sports Science Australia medal as the top PhD thesis in exercise physiology. Steve’s research is focused on using exercise testing and exercise training to improve cardiovascular outcomes for individuals undergoing cancer treatment. Steve uses advanced exercise testing and imaging methods including cardiopulmonary exercise testing, exercise cardiac MRI and muscle MRI to understand how cardiotoxic cancer treatments such as chemotherapy affect the heart, blood vessels and muscles, and how these effects can be prevented through personalised exercise interventions. This culminated in the publication of the BReast cancer EXercise InTervention (BREXIT) study – which comprehensively demonstrated the positive effects of personalized exercise training on cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiac function during cardiotoxic breast cancer therapy.