Sandra Hunter, PhD is the Francie Kraker Goodridge Collegiate Professor of Kinesiology and Chair of Movement Science in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Michigan USA. She also is Co-Director-with Drs. Ken Kozloff, and Riann Palmieri-Smith, and Ron Zernicke-of the University of Michigan Human Performance and Sport Science Center in the School of Kinesiology.

Professor Hunter received her PhD in Exercise Physiology at the University of Sydney, Australia studying the muscle function with aging and the effects of strength training in young and older women.  She then trained as a postdoctoral research associate (1999-2003) at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA in the Neural Control of Movement laboratory.  In 2003, she became faculty at Marquette University, Wisconsin, USA for 21 years before moving to the School of Kinesiology, University of Michigan in 2024 where she has an active NIH research program. 

Professor Hunter has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2004 to study the effects of sex, age and diabetes on exercise performance and the protective effects of exercise and strength training. She is an international leader on the neuromuscular physiology of human movement across the lifespan in males and females, and the age and sex differences in athletic performance. Professor Hunter has authored over 180 journal publications, and she serves as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Exercise and Sport Science Reviews. Professor Hunter is the first author on a consensus statement published in 2023 by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) on the Biological Basis of the Sex Differences in Athletic Performance. In May 2025 she received the ACSM Citation award, one of ACSM’s highest honors for an outstanding career in research, and scholarly recognition in contributing to the mission of ACSM. Professor Hunter regularly appears in the media on the sex and age differences in athletic performance.