James Rimmer

James Rimmer, Ph.D., is Professor and inaugural Lakeshore Foundation Endowed Chair in Health Promotion and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Health Professions. He serves as director of the UAB Research Collaborative and the Center for Engagement in Disability Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (CEDHARS), an interdisciplinary research center with 125 faculty affiliates across eight UAB schools. His work focuses on inclusion science, advocating for equitable access to physical activity and health interventions for people with disabilities through research, technology adaptation, and community engagement.

As founder of the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD), Rimmer has established a national platform providing free online wellness resources and live health classes to over 1.5 million individuals annually. He pioneered the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Recreational Technologies (RecTech) to develop inclusive fitness technology and leads the Wellness, Health and Research Facility (WHARF) at Lakeshore Foundation. His collaborative approach spans medicine, engineering, public health, and nursing, exemplified by a NIH-funded P50 grant proposal to create a disability health promotion research center integrating AI and wearables.

• Sam Brown Bridge Builder Award (2024) for interdisciplinary collaboration
• First researcher with focus on disability health appointed to President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition

Rimmer’s mentorship has directly supported emerging scholars like Byron Lai, Ph.D., and Julianne Clina, Ph.D., who now continue disability research at institutions like the University of Kansas Medical Center. He emphasizes lived experience in research teams and equitable design of health technologies, addressing systemic barriers through AI-driven pathway analysis for accessibility solutions.