Rate My Professor Keith Diaz

Keith Diaz, PhD, is the Florence Irving Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine (in Medicine) at Columbia University Medical Center. He serves as Director of the Exercise Testing Laboratory and the Wearable Device Reading Center at the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health. A certified exercise physiologist, Dr. Diaz earned a BS in Exercise Physiology from William Paterson University in 2006 and a PhD in Integrative Exercise Physiology from Temple University in 2012. His research examines the role of prolonged sedentary behavior in the development of cardiovascular disease and related conditions, with emphasis on developing feasible interventions to reduce sitting time and improve cardiometabolic health. He has led multiple federally funded studies and contributed key publications, including analyses of sedentary behavior patterns and mortality in national cohorts published in Annals of Internal Medicine in 2017 and JAMA Oncology in 2020, as well as work on breaking up prolonged sitting in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise in 2023. Dr. Diaz received the New Investigator Award from the American College of Sports Medicine in 2018. He founded and directs Project PossABILITY, a disability hiring initiative at Columbia University Medical Center, and serves on the Fitness Advisory Committee for the Special Olympics. His expertise extends to physical activity monitoring and the accuracy of consumer wearable devices.