Sydney Churchill

Sydney Churchill is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to this position, Dr. Churchill was a graduate student in the Wellbeing and Exercise Lab at Iowa State University, where she obtained her Ph.D. in 2025 in Kinesiology and Neuroscience. Dr. Churchill’s research focuses on understanding how modifiable health behaviors, such as increasing physical activity and reducing sedentary behavior, can be leveraged to improve mental health, physical health, and clinical outcomes in people with chronic conditions. Her work primarily targets two populations: people with epilepsy and those affected by substance use disorders. She uses large-scale data analytics to inform the design of behavioral interventions, with the goal of developing evidence-based treatment options that support long-term health and treatment engagement.