Robert Newton

Professor Robert Newton, PhD, DSc, AEP, CSCS*D, FACSM, FESSA, FNSCA

Professor Robert Newton is Professor of Exercise Medicine in the Exercise Medicine Research Institute that he established (2004) at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia. Prior to appointment at Edith Cowan University, Professor Newton was Director of the Biomechanics Laboratory, at Ball State University in Indiana, and was visiting research fellow at the Pennsylvania State University, in the Center for Sports Medicine. Current major research directions include: exercise medicine as neoadjuvant, adjuvant and rehabilitative cancer therapy to reduce side-effects and enhance effectiveness of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy; the influence of targeted exercise medicine on tumour biology and exercise medicine for reducing decline in quality of life, strength, body composition and functional ability in cancer patients.

Professor Newton is an Accredited Exercise Physiologist, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with Distinction with the NSCA, Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, Fellow of Exercise and Sports Science Australia and Fellow of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), Member of the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia, American Society of Clinical Oncology and American College of Sports Medicine. In 2004 he was awarded Outstanding Sports Scientist of the Year by the NSCA. In 2018 he received the career achievement award from the Cancer Council WA and was a finalist for Western Australian of the Year and finalist for the Premier’s Science Award. In 2019, Professor Newton was named the Western Australian Premier’s Scientist of the Year. In 2021, The University of Queensland awarded Professor Newton a Higher Doctorate (DSc) for his research into exercise oncology. Professor Newton was a finalist in the Research Australia Health and Medical Research Awards for 2021 and received a Highly Commended Frontiers Award.

Professor Newton has supervised 8 postdoctoral fellows, 52 PhD, 26 Masters by Research and 3 Honours students to successful completion. He is currently supervising 5 PhD students and 2 Masters students.

Professor Newton has published over 1,000 scientific papers including 550 refereed scientific journal articles, 490 conference abstracts and papers, three books, 17 book chapters and has a current Scopus h-Index of 96 with his work being cited over 32,000 times. Topic of greatest publication output is exercise and cancer for a field-weighted citation impact of 3.00 and prominence percentile of 99.31. As of 2024 Professor Newton had attracted 258 competitive research grants valued at $50,773,064 including NHMRC, PCFA, Cancer Australia and World Cancer Research Fund International.