Director
Google Scholar Profile
Glen Duncan has been the Director of the Washington State Twin Registry (formerly the University of Washington Twin Registry) since 2013. Glen is a Professor in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology at Washington State University Health Sciences Spokane. Over a scientific career spanning two decades, he has studied the effects of physical activity and nutrition on community health. His conceptual approach situates these phenomena in the context of social and built environments. He has developed unparalleled expertise in research designs using data on twins – both monozygotic (identical) and dizygotic (fraternal) – to assess unique environmental effects on lifestyle behaviors. His current work pioneers the use of novel methods to assess the lifestyle behaviors undertaken by community-dwelling adults in their daily lives, and the effects of these behaviors on cardio-metabolic and fitness-related measures. All his research treats lifestyle behaviors as embedded in real-world settings shaped by policy decisions as well as by socioeconomic and demographic factors.
Glen is a firm believer that exercise is the perfect medicine to prevent a wide range of health problems. As a lifelong athlete, he is always active, and his main exercise passion is to practice martial arts, especially Muay Thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.