Dr. Jennifer Schrack is Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH). Dr. Schrack holds a joint position with the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, and she is affiliated with several Centers including the Center for AIDS Research, the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health, the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, and the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research.
Dr. Schrack's primary area of research is the epidemiological assessment of physical activity and its associations with health and longevity in older populations. In collaboration with the SMART group from the JHSPH Department of Biostatistics, Dr. Schrack is working to establish methods to analyze and translate heart rate and accelerometry data into accurate and reliable measures of physical activity in older populations. In recognition of these efforts, Dr. Schrack was recently awarded a 2017 Johns Hopkins University Catalyst Award and a U01 from the National Institute on Aging.
Recent Publications
- Cai, Y, Zhou, J, Scott, PW, Tian, Q, Wanigatunga, AA, Lipsitz, L, Simonsick, EM, Resnick, SM, Ferrucci, L, Ren, D et al.. Physical activity complexity, cognition, and risk of cognitive impairment and dementia in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Alzheimers Dement (N Y) 2025; 11 (2): e70077. PubMed PMID:40225241 PubMed Central PMC11982518.
- Donahue, PT, Schrack, JA, Thrul, J, Carlson, MC. Activity variability: A novel physical activity metric and its association with cognitive impairment. Alzheimers Dement (N Y) 2025; 11 (2): e70079. PubMed PMID:40225239 PubMed Central PMC11982928.
- Marino, FR, Deal, JA, Gross, AL, An, Y, Tian, Q, Simonsick, EM, Ferrucci, L, Resnick, SM, Schrack, JA, Wanigatunga, AA et al.. Directionality between cognitive function and daily physical activity patterns. Alzheimers Dement (N Y) 2025; 11 (2): e70068. PubMed PMID:40225238 PubMed Central PMC11992357.
- Schrack, JA, Wanigatunga, AA, Glynn, NW, Arnold, ML, Burgard, S, Chisolm, TH, Couper, D, Deal, JA, Gmelin, T, Goman, AM et al.. Effects of Hearing Intervention on Physical Activity Measured by Accelerometry: A Secondary Analysis of the ACHIEVE Study. J Am Geriatr Soc 2025; : . PubMed PMID:40126980 .
- Davoudi, A, Donahue, PT, Carlson, MC, Dougherty, RJ, Wanigatunga, AA, Freedman, VA, Schrack, JA. Physical Activity Patterns and Variability, Cognitive Performance, and Dementia in the National Health and Aging Trends Study. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2025; : . PubMed PMID:39992916 .
- Gao, S, Zhou, X, Koffman, L, Wanigatunga, AA, Schrack, JA, Crainiceanu, CM, Muschelli, J. Comparing step counting algorithms for high-resolution wrist accelerometry data in older adults in the ARIC study. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2025; : . PubMed PMID:39963747 .
- Xue, QL, Laskow, T, Alzahrani, MK, Varadhan, R, Walston, JD, Schrack, JA, Newman, AB, Sieber, F, Bandeen-Roche, K. Multivariate Profiling of Physical Resilience in Older Adults After Total Knee Replacement Surgery: Results from a Prospective Observational Study. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2025; : . PubMed PMID:39954270 .
- Martinez-Amezcua, P, Zhang, W, Assi, S, Gupta, H, Twardzik, E, Huang, AR, Reed, NS, Deal, JA, Arnold, ML, Burgard, S et al.. Impact of a hearing intervention on the levels of leisure-time physical activity and T.V. viewing in older adults: results from a secondary analysis of the ACHIEVE trial. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2025; : . PubMed PMID:39953975 .
- Bessen, S, Garcia Morales, EE, Zhang, W, Martinez-Amezcua, P, Umoh, M, Cudjoe, TKM, Schrack, JA, Reed, NS. Hearing Loss, Difficulty With Activities of Daily Living, and Experience of Consequences of Related Unmet Needs in Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Analysis. Am J Audiol 2025; 34 (1): 127-138. PubMed PMID:39932395 .
- Mediano, MFF, Mok, Y, Ballew, SH, Gonzalez, F 2nd, Sotres-Alvarez, D, Mossavar-Rahmani, Y, Kaplan, R, Carlson, JA, Alver, SK, Daviglus, M et al.. The association of physical activity fragmentation with all-cause mortality in Hispanics: a prospective cohort study. Lancet Reg Health Am 2025; 42 : 100996. PubMed PMID:39925467 PubMed Central PMC11804820.
