R01 grant awarded to USC School of Medicine Greenville to study exercise is medicine program

A first-of-its-kind, physical activity health promotion model for primary care healthcare providers

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the USC School of Medicine Greenville an R01 research grant to study and enhance a pioneering program that harnesses the benefits of physical activity in patient care to treat disease and promote health.

The $3.4 million, five-year grant supports groundbreaking research led by Dr. Jennifer Trilk, Professor of Biomedical Sciences at School of Medicine Greenville (SOMG) and Director of Lifestyle Medicine Programs, and Dr. Mark Stoutenberg, Professor of Public Health and co-Director of the Wolson Research Institute for Health and Well-Being at Durham University. The research project focuses on increasing the identification and referral of eligible patients to community-based physical activity programs through a first-of-its-kind, physical activity health promotion model for primary care healthcare providers. The model, called Exercise is Medicine Greenville® (EIMG®), is an innovative program that strategically leverages resources across a medical school (SOMG), healthcare system (Prisma Health), and community organizations (YMCA of Greenville and Oconee Counties) to identify, refer, and enroll eligible patients into community-based physical activity programs designed to increase their physical activity and prevent, manage, and treat their chronic diseases.

The work by Trilk and Stoutenberg, along their research team, will examine referral rates and patient enrollment through the EIMG model from 24 Prisma Health primary care clinics throughout the upstate of South Carolina.

The research will identify strategies to increase the number of patients receiving referrals, as well as provide valuable insights into the cost-effectiveness of incorporating physical activity into healthcare as a population health management strategy. It will also examine the effectiveness of the EIMG program on health outcomes of participants, such as physical activity levels, blood pressure, cholesterol, and body weight. These advancements could be applied to similar physical activity referral programs implemented within healthcare systems across the nation.

“Consistent physical activity prevents, treats, and even reverses chronic diseases,” said Trilk. “It literally can be a prescription for health.”

Exercise is Medicine Greenville® launched in 2016. Modeled after Exercise is Medicine (EIM), a global initiative developed and led by the American College of Sports Medicine, EIMG® is an example of a multilevel partnership that applies this groundwork to a population health management strategy.

Physical activity is one of the six key pillars of Lifestyle Medicine — a medical specialty that uses therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary modality to treat chronic conditions including, but not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.  

Dr. Meenu Jinal, medical director of internal medicine clinics at Prisma Health, said the program provides a great opportunity for healthcare providers to work with patients to help them stay healthy, especially patients who cannot afford a physical activity program otherwise or have unique lifestyle challenges. YMCA of Greenville strives to make sure EIMG is delivered equitably, through YMCA-provided scholarships covering 5-100% of the programming costs to patients who need it the most.