Susan Kohl Malone is a registered nurse with a focus on chronic disease prevention and management. This work inspired her research interests into the roles that modifiable lifestyle behaviors (sleep, physical activity, eating habits) and environmental factors (light exposure) play on cardio-metabolic disease risk. Of special interest are the timing and rhythmicity of these behaviors and exposures.

     Rhythms are the rule, not the exception, underlying almost all physiological functions. Thus, the rhythmicity and timing of behaviors and biology need to be measured and managed to move towards greater wellness. The goal of Dr. Malone’s research team is to incorporate timing and rhythmicity into behavioral interventions to ameliorate chronic disease. Dr. Malone has been the principle investigator on several funded sleep intervention studies. She has led a sleep health intervention to reverse metabolic syndrome in middle-aged adults as part of NYU’s P20 Exploratory Center for Precision Health in Diverse Populations. She also leads a randomized controlled trial to determine whether improving sleep improves glycemic control in adults with prediabetes. Dr. Malone has led several population-based studies examining the relationships between multiple dimensions of sleep, such as duration, timing, regularity, quality with cardio-metabolic risk behaviors, and cardio-metabolic outcomes.

     Dr. Malone holds an undergraduate degree in nursing with a theology minor from Georgetown University and a MSN and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed postdoctoral fellowship training in the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania under the mentorship of Dr. Allan Pack.