Four healthcare students wearing VR headsets

Michael F. O'Leary

Dean

Faculty of Applied Health & Community Studies

Biography
Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Dr. Michael O’Leary has extensive experience within the post-secondary education system in Ontario. Dr. O’Leary began teaching as a part-time, and then a full-time faculty member at Humber College in 2007 in the School of Hospitality, Recreation and Tourism. During his time as a faculty member, Michael taught multiple courses in the Kinesiology, Fitness and Health Promotion, Exercise Science and Lifestyle Management (ESLM), and Massage Therapy programs. Subsequent to these teaching appointments, he was appointed Program Head of Kinesiology (2010-2013) at the University of Guelph-Humber and then took on the role as Associate Dean in the School of Hospitality, Recreation and Tourism (2012-2014) and in the School of Health Sciences (2014-2017).

In the fall of 2017, Dr. O’Leary joined the Sheridan community as Dean of the Faculty of Applied Health and Community Studies. Dr. O’Leary holds a Bachelor’s of Science (Honours) and a Master’s degree from York University in Kinesiology and Health Science, and completed his doctoral degree research focusing on determining the molecular mechanisms regulating muscle atrophy and adaptation to exercise. He has published several peer-reviewed journal articles in this area, and co-authored three book chapters, including one chapter in ACSM’s Advanced Exercise Physiology textbook. Michael has previously been the recipient of the Ontario Exercise Physiology Graduate student award (2009).

Book Chapters

O'Leary, M.F., Hood, D., Chabi, B., Menzies, K., Walkinshaw, D. (2007). Exercise-Induced Mitochondrial Biogenesis in Skeletal Muscle. In Exercise-Induced Mitochondrial Biogenesis in Skeletal Muscle(pp. 37-60). Springer - Verlag Italia.
O'Leary, M.F., Saleem, A., Kazak, L., Hood, D., Reed, J., Green, D. (2011). Cell Death Regulation in Muscle. In Apoptosis: Physiology and Pathology(pp. 313-322). Cambridge University Press.
O'Leary, M.F., Hood, D., Uguccioni, G., Irrcher, I., Farrell, P., Joyner, M., Caiozzo, V. (2011). Mitochondrial Biogenesis Induced by Endurance Training. In ACSM's Advanced Exercise Physiology(pp. 447-465). Lippincott, Williams and Wilkens.

Journal Articles

O'Leary, M.F., Zhang, Y., Iqbal, S., Menzies, K., Saleem, A., Ding, S., Hood, D. (2013). Altered mitochondrial morphology and defective protein import reveal novel roles for Bax and/or Bak in skeletal muscle.American Journal of Physiology, 305(5), C502-C511.
O'Leary, M.F., Ostojic, O., Singh, K., Menzies, K., Vainshtein, A., Hood, D. (2013). The effects of chronic muscle use and disuse on cardiolipin metabolism.Journal of Applied Physiology, 114(4), 444-452.
O'Leary, M.F., Vainshtein, A., Iqbal, S., Ostojic, O., Hood, D. (2013). Adaptive plasticity of autophagic proteins to denervation in aging skeletal muscle.American Journal of Physiology, 304(5), C422-C430.
O'Leary, M.F., Vainshtein, A., Carter, H., Zhang, Y., Hood, D. (2012). Denervation-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and autophagy in skeletal muscle of apoptosis-deficient animals.American Journal of Physiology, 303(4), C447-C454.
O'Leary, M.F., Chabi, B., Adhihetty, P., Menzies, K., Hood, D. (2009). Relationship between Sirt1 expression and mitochondrial proteins during conditions of chronic muscle use and disuse.Journal of Applied Physiology, 107(6), 1730--1735.
O'Leary, M.F., Hood, D. (2009). Denervation-induced oxidative stress and autophagy signaling in muscle.Autophagy, 5(2), 230-231.
O'Leary, M.F., Hood, D. (2008). The effect of chronic contractile activity on mitochondrial function and apoptotic protein expression in denervated muscle.Journal of Applied Physiology, 105(1), 114-120.
O'Leary, M.F., Adhihetty, P., Chabi, B., Wicks, K., Hood, D. (2007). Effect of chronic denervation on the mitochondrially-mediated apoptosis signaling pathway in skeletal muscle.Journal of Applied Physiology, 102(3), 1143-1151.