Dr. Michelle Fortier

Michelle Fortier is a physical activity psychology scientist who is a full professor at the School of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa. Her research program aims to understand and promote physical activity behavior change with an emphasis on motivation. She has extensive research experience examining the determinants of physical activity adoption and maintenance in different healthy and clinical populations and has been involved in the development and evaluation of physical activity promotion interventions.  She was the lead investigator of the Physical Activity Counseling trial which is an internationally renowned randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of adding exercise professionals to primary health care teams to get patients moving.  She has had funding from various organizations such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Canadian Institutes in Health Research (CIHR).