- Associate Professor, Graduate Program Director
- Phone: 401.874.5638
- Email: christieward@uri.edu
- Office Location: Independence Square, Suite P, Room 212
Biography
Christie Ward-Ritacco, Ph.D., FACSM is an Associate Professor and Graduate Director in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Rhode Island. Dr. Ward-Ritacco is an active member of the American College of Sports Medicine and is both a Fellow of the College and an ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist (2005-present). Currently, she is a member of the ACSM Exercise is Medicine Active Aging Taskforce (2025 – present). She previously served Chair of ACSM’s Committee for Certification and Registry Boards (CCRB) (2020 – 2023), Member-at-Large for the CCRB Executive Committee (2018 – 2020) and the Exercise Physiologist Subcommittee (2012 – 2018). She was also a member of ACSM’s International Health Fitness Summit Planning Committee from 2017 – 2021. In addition to her national service, Dr. Ward-Ritacco is active within the New England Chapter of the ACSM and currently serves as the Regional Chapter Representative (2020 – present).
Research
Dr. Ward-Ritacco’s research focuses on examining the independent and interactive effects of physical activity, nutrition, muscular performance and body composition on determinants of health-related quality of life, specifically physical function and feeling of mental and physical energy and fatigue.
She works regularly with interdisciplinary teams focused on physical activity and exercise, nutrition, and behavior modification. Her current research projects include assessing physical activity, body composition, quality of life, and muscular performance in middle-aged women and individuals with Parkinson’s Disease. She has received funding from the Champlin Foundations, the Ryan Institute, the Roddy Foundation, the Rhode Island Foundation and the Tonal Strength Institute.
Education
- Post-Doctoral Training, Kinesiology (Exercise Psychology), University of Georgia
- Ph.D., Kinesiology (Exercise Physiology), University of Georgia
- M.S., Exercise Science, University of Rhode Island
- B.S., Health and Exercise Science, Wake Forest University
Selected Publications
Lodge MT*, Catrambone ZR#, Cirella SM**, Kraus E, Logan NE, Ward-Ritacco CL. From Validation to Application: A Methodological Review of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) Screening. Performance Nutrition. Accepted January 2026.
Lodge MT*, Logan NE, Ward-Ritacco CL. Low energy availability and disordered eating risk do not change over a collegiate cross-country season. Translational Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. 2026; 11(1):e000337. DOI: 10.1249/TJX.0000000000000337.
Lodge MT*, Cirella SM**, Hartman ME, Logan NE, Ward-Ritacco CL. The Association of Low Energy Availability Knowledge and Risk in Female Track and Field Athletes. Journal of Women’s Sports Medicine. 2025; 5(12). DOI: https://doi.org/10.53646/e3r1jh65.
Sabik NJ, Logan NE, Ward-Ritacco CL. Midlife Women’s Stress and Burnout: Associations with Health-Related Quality of Life, Physical Activity, and Physical Function. Menopause. 2025. DOI: 10.1097/GME.0000000000002659
Logan NE, Gaudreau J, Owens B, Oaks B, Ward-Ritacco CL, Sabik N. Heightened Menopausal Symptoms Mediate the Associations Between Stress and Depressive Symptoms Among Midlife Women. Menopause. 2025; 32(10). DOI: 10.1097/GME.0000000000002596.
Lodge MT*, Cirella SM**, Hartman ME, Logan NE, Ward-Ritacco CL. Risk of Low Energy Availability, Disordered Eating, Eating Disorders, and Bone Stress Injuries in United States Female Track and Field. Journal of Exercise Science and Nutrition. 2025. 8(1). https://doi.org/10.53520/jen2025.103192.
Clarkin CM, Ward-Ritacco CL, Mahler L. Exercise-Induced Functional Changes in People with Parkinson’s Disease following External Cueing and Task-Based Intervention. Rehabilitation Research and Practice. 2024: 6188546.
Owens BA, Sabik NJ, Tovar A, Ward-Ritacco CL, Melanson KJ, Guerriero BS, Oaks BM. Higher morning cortisol is associated with lower intuitive eating in midlife women. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2024; 162:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.106958.
Harwood V, Logan NE, Baron A, Richards S, Dias R, Seng A, Jelfs E, Clarkin C, Ward-Ritacco CL. Electrophysiological Investigation of Active-Assisted vs Recumbent Cycling: A Pilot Study in Healthy Older Adults. Progress in Brain Research. 2024; 283: 67-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2023.11.006.
Owens BA, Sabik NJ, Tovar A, Ward-Ritacco CL, Oaks BM. Higher intuitive eating is associated with lower adiposity in midlife women. Eating Behaviors. 2023; 50:101796. doi: 0.1016/j.eatbeh.2023.101796.
Gigliotti H, Hodgson C, Riley M, Marshall B, Ward-Ritacco CL, Martin J, Boolani A. Trait Energy and Fatigue influence inter-individual mood and neurocognitive responses during work done while sitting, standing, and intermittent walking: A randomized-controlled crossover design. Applied Sciences. 2023;13: 4241. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13074241.
Logan NE, Ward-Ritacco CL. The Developing Brain: Considering the Multifactorial Effects of Obesity, Physical Activity & Mental Wellbeing in Childhood and Adolescence. Children. 2023; 9(12):1802. doi:10.3390/children9121802.
Ward-Ritacco CL, Greaney M, Clarke P, Riebe D. The Longitudinal Association Between Physical Activity and Physical Function in Older Women. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. 2022; 4:879025. doi:10.3389/fspor.2022.879025.