Shelley Keating

Associate Professor Shelley Keating is an Accredited Exercise Physiologist and Associate Professor in Clinical Exercise Physiology at the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, University of Queensland. She earned a Bachelor of Exercise Science and Rehabilitation (Honours Class 1) from the University of Wollongong, a Master of Exercise and Sport Science in Clinical Exercise Science from the University of Sydney, and a PhD in Exercise Physiology from the University of Sydney. With over 18 years of clinical experience, she has developed, delivered, and disseminated exercise interventions for adults with obesity and related chronic diseases. As an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, she previously held an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship from 2017 to 2022 titled 'One size does not fit all: personalised exercise strategies to improve cardiovascular and metabolic health in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.' She leads a multidisciplinary research program focused on exercise metabolism, body composition, and lifestyle interventions for obesity, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), and type 2 diabetes. Her work emphasizes optimizing exercise dose—frequency, intensity, time, and type—to maximize health benefits, particularly through high-intensity interval training, and advancing body composition assessment techniques for cardiometabolic risk evaluation. She has contributed to national and international exercise guidelines for MASLD and type 2 diabetes management, including the American College of Sports Medicine International Multidisciplinary Roundtable report on physical activity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Keating's key publications include the 2023 randomized controlled trial 'High-intensity interval training is safe, feasible and efficacious in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis' published in Digestive Diseases and Sciences; the 2023 report 'American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) International Multidisciplinary Roundtable report on physical activity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease' in Hepatology Communications; the seminal 2012 systematic review and meta-analysis 'Exercise and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis' in the Journal of Hepatology; and guidelines such as 'Guidelines for the delivery and monitoring of high intensity interval training in clinical populations' in Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases (2019). She has secured funding from NHMRC Investigator Grants (2026–2030) for 'Transforming exercise care for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease,' UQ Early Career Researcher Grants, and Exercise and Sports Science Australia grants. Her research integrates clinical trials with co-design involving clinicians, health services, and patients to embed sustainable exercise into routine cardiometabolic care, influencing clinical practice globally.

Professional Email: s.keating@uq.edu.au