Mia Schaumberg

Biography

Dr Mia Schaumberg is a Group Leader and Early Career Researcher in the School of Health and Sport Sciences and the Sunshine Coast Health Institute. She holds honorary adjunct positions at The University of Queensland and the Queensland Brain Institute. Mia’s current research focuses on the influence of lifestyle interventions as a catalyst for changes in fitness, metabolism, health and disease. She investigates the mechanisms and potential biomarkers underpinning the benefits of exercise and healthy behaviour change for improving brain health and reducing dementia risk. By combining measures of physiological and functional fitness, cognitive function, blood biochemistry, epigenetics, and multimodal magnetic resonance imaging, she investigates exercise-related neurophysiological changes that are invaluable in guiding understanding of how to improve health and slow, prevent, or even reverse cognitive disease progression in older adults.

Her research extends from laboratory studies through to community implementation with a translation focus. She works closely with the Sunshine Coast Regional Council, the Thompson Institute and the UQ Centre for Exercise and Healthy Brain Ageing as well as collaborators throughout Australia and internationally. Mia leads a growing research group, with multiple opportunities available for research studentships. She is always interested in exploring new collaborations and discussing potential research ideas.

Teaching areas

• Human Physiology
• Human Pathophysiology
• Introductory Bioscience
• Exercise Physiology

Expert Media Commentary

Dr Mia Schaumberg’s specialist areas of knowledge include exercise physiology, healthy ageing, and the influence of exercise on cognitive function and brain health. In addition, Mia has a keen interest in female athlete health, bone health and body composition and exercise endocrinology. Her primary research methods include clinical exercise training interventions, the assessment of fitness (cardiopulmonary exercise testing), quantitative measures of body composition and bone health (DXA and pQCT), cognitive function assessment, and blood-based biomarkers.