Janet S. Dufek, Ph.D., has held numerous leadership roles at UNLV, including vice provost for Faculty Affairs, associate dean of the School of Integrated Health Sciences, director of the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Ph.D. Program, graduate coordinator for the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences, and executive committee member and senior faculty fellow in the Graduate College. Her service extends to professional organizations where she has served as president of the Northwest Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine, executive council member of the International Society of Biomechanics, and membership co-chair of the American Society of Biomechanics.

A biomechanist with expertise in lower extremity function, Dufek joined UNLV in 2009 as a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences. She has instructed graduate-level biomechanics and instrumentation techniques in biomechanics courses as well as undergraduate biomechanics. She also supervises selected undergraduate research projects and has directed the interdisciplinary health sciences doctoral seminar.

Dufek’s research focuses on mechanisms of locomotion and jump-landing activities as related to injury prevention, clinical gait assessment and performance enhancement for clinical populations. Her work also explores performance strategies, single subject assessment, and performer variability as they relate to individual movement outcomes. She is a strong advocate for interdisciplinary research.

Dufek earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Superior (pedagogy) and her master’s degree from Illinois State University (scientific foundations of exercise). After a two-year stint at the Olympic Training Center in the biomechanics laboratory, she went on to earn her Ph.D. at the University of Oregon in biomechanics. Dufek is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and was inducted into the Hall of Fame at UW-Superior as a Scholar-Athlete in 2007. She is also a member of the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society.