Rate My Professor Lara Vlietstra

Dr Lara Vlietstra is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Otago. She graduated as a physiotherapist from Avans University in Breda, the Netherlands, in 2014. She subsequently obtained an MSc in Clinical Physiotherapy from Utrecht University/University Medical Centre Utrecht and an MSc in Geriatric Physiotherapy from Avans+ in 2017. Vlietstra completed her PhD in 2021 from the University of Otago's Department of Medicine and School of Physiotherapy, with a thesis entitled "Screening and treating pre-sarcopenia in middle-aged adults." She joined the School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences in 2022 as a lecturer and advanced to Senior Lecturer. She teaches SPEX 205 Physical Activity and Health and SPEX 310 Exercise for Clinical Populations, and supervises Honours and Master's students.

Vlietstra's research focuses on healthy ageing and the prevention of age-related diseases, with particular emphasis on physical activity and sarcopenia, falls, and frailty in older adults. She is co-primary investigator of the GAMES Study researching ageing in New Zealand Olympians, Paralympians, and Commonwealth Games athletes, and collaborates internationally across Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, and the United States. She holds leadership positions as Deputy Director of the Collaboration for Ageing Research Excellence (CARE), National Executive member of the New Zealand Association of Gerontology (NZAG), Council member of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Sarcopenia and Frailty Research (ANZSSFR), and Associate Editor for the Australasian Journal on Ageing. Key publications include "Exercise interventions in healthy older adults with sarcopenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis" (Australasian Journal on Ageing, 2018), "Consensus guidelines for sarcopenia prevention, diagnosis and management in Australia and New Zealand" (Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle, 2023), "Sarcopenia in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis: The association with self-reported fatigue, physical function and obesity" (PLoS One, 2019), and recent works such as associations of step counts with body fat (Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 2025) and 24-h movement patterns in retired athletes (Australasian Journal on Ageing, 2025).