Dr. Hughes earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from the University of Texas at Austin. After graduation, he worked as a chemical engineer at Dow Chemical in Freeport Texas, returning to graduate school after 23 years in industry. He earned a Masters of Education degree in Motor Behavior and a PhD in Kinesiology from University of Houston, with a sports/exercise psychology specialty. Upon receiving his doctorate, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at U.T. M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in the Department of Behavioral Sciences. During his postdoctoral training, he led the implementation of the exercise testing and monitoring laboratories in the Behavioral Research and Treatment Center. After his postdoctoral fellowship, he joined the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio where he leads the “Muevete Mas laboratory”.
His research focuses on exercise interventions for cancer survivorship to address cancer related health disparities. Dr. Hughes has been funded by National Cancer Institute, and sits on several key committees including the GAP4 Movember Steering Committee for a worldwide exercise initiative for metastatic prostate cancer survivors. Currently, in partnership with colleagues from UTH-SA, Rice University, U.T. M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and St. Mary’s University; his research is focusing more on testing a holistic mind-body interactive model to mitigate the negative effect on stress for a primary and tertiary prevention.
Dr. Hughes has over 30 publications in the area of exercise and cancer prevention, served as grant reviewer for NCI, and continues to serve as a reviewer for several of top tier journals in cancer prevention. Dr. Hughes is both an American College of Sports Medicine certified Clinical Exercise Physiologist® and American Heart Association Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) certification.
Daniel Hughes, PhD
Professor
UTHSCSA Urology Department