Professor Mark Tremblay has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Sports Administration and a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education degree from Laurentian University. His graduate training was from the University of Toronto where he obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Department of Community Health with a specialty in Exercise Science.
Dr. Tremblay is a Senior Scientist with the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research (HALO) Research Group at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute and Professor of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, President of the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, Founder of the Sedentary Behaviour Research Network, President of Outdoor Play Canada, and Adjunct/Visiting Professor at five other universities on four continents.
Dr. Tremblay has published >600 scientific papers and book chapters in the areas of childhood obesity, physical activity measurement, exercise physiology, sedentary physiology, outdoor play and health surveillance. According to Scopus, his h-index is 100 and his published research has been cited >42,000, consistently placing him on the Clarivate list of highly cited researchers (top 1% in the world). He has delivered or coauthored over 1,000 scholarly conference presentations, including more than 150 invited and keynote addresses, in 22 different countries.
Dr. Tremblay received an honorary doctorate from Nipissing University, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Lawson Foundation 60th Anniversary Award, the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology Honour Award and John Sutton Memorial Lecturer Award, the Victor Marchessault Advocacy Award from the Canadian Pediatric Society, the Vic Neufeld Mentorship Award in Global Health Research from the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research, the International Network of Time-Use Epidemiologists Laureate Award, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Trailblazer Award in Population and Public Health Research, and the Obesity Canada Distinguished Lecturer Award for his leadership contributions to healthy active living in Canada and around the world.
Dr. Tremblay’s most productive work has resulted from his 35-year marriage to his wife Helen, yielding four wonderful children.
Related News
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Why getting outside matters: outdoor physical activity linked to better mental health for teens
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Too much screen time – Canadian children and youth not meeting 24-hour movement guidelines
Research Projects
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Activity in Latin America: trends, successes and challenges in practice and surveillance
11/08/2025
To synthesize the grades of physical activity (PA) indicators for children and adolescents (5–17 years) in Latin American countries; explore the social determinants of health (SDoH) for PA indicators; and identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to improve PA levels. Latin American countries reported poor grades on PA indicators for children and adolescents. Contrasted progress was observed between the behavioral and source of influence indicator groups. Improved surveillance systems and greater country-level investment in PA data collection are urgently needed to enhance comparability and guide regional action.
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Global trends in importance of 24-hour movement behaviors to pediatric health: implications for South Korea
03/01/2025
This integrative review underscores the urgent need to improve 24-hour movement behaviors among Korean children and adolescents, who demonstrate lower adherence to global guidelines compared to peers worldwide. By strengthening policy, practice, and research efforts, Korea can better support pediatric populations in achieving healthier daily movement patterns. Advancing these priorities is essential for promoting lifelong health and well-being.
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Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults.
24/03/2024
Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. Therefore, optimal nutrition and health policies should address both forms of malnutrition, as indicated by Sustainable Development Goal Target 2.2, which calls for ending “all forms of malnutrition”. Trends in underweight and obesity have varied substantially across countries and age groups.1, 2, 3, 4 Furthermore, underweight and obesity have changed independently of each other in some regions.2 Despite these heterogeneities, global data on how the combined (double) burden of underweight and obesity has changed in terms of magnitude and composition are scarce, and the latest data on their individual prevalence are from 2016.1 This lack of consistent evidence hinders optimal resource allocation and policy formulation to address both forms of malnutrition.
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Race/ethnicity inequities in the association between movement behaviors and suicidal thoughts/ideation among adolescents.
21/03/2024
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Correlates of physical activity in children from families speaking non-official languages at home: A multi-site Canadian study.
13/03/2024
Outdoor time was the strongest correlate of boys’ and girls’ PA. Lower area-level SES was associated with less PA among boys, but outdoor time attenuated this difference. The strength of association between outdoor time and PA decreased with age in boys and increased with age in girls.