FunD Sport Science Research

menstruation. Nutrition. recovery.

The VIS Foundation is committed to closing critical gaps in our understanding of women’s health and exercise. VIS Foundation is helping former VIS mentor and professional athlete Katie Rainsberger fund her doctorate studies focused on women’s menstrual health, athletic performance and recovery. Despite growing awareness and participation in women’s sports, research on exercising women remains vastly underfunded— less than 6% of research in sports science is conducted on women. Join us in raising money to fund Katie’s research exclusively on female athletes to optimize performance, nutrition, and menstrual cycle health.

3% Cover the Fee

OUR GOALS

To fund research that would narrow the gaps in our understanding women’s health and exercise. Our mission is to fund the doctoral research of PhD candidate Katie Rainsberger.

The research.

  • Gatorade Player of the Year, Women’s Cross Country, 2016

    University of Washington, BSc, Wienker Award for best Honors Thesis, 2018—2021

    • Biodemography Laboratory

    • Genetics Laboratory

    University of Colorado Colorado Springs, MSc, 2021—2025

    • Hybl Sports Performance Laboratory

    Professional Runner for New Balance, 2021—2025

    • 5th place at U.S. Nationals, NCAA 13 x All-American

  • Female athletes face unique challenges in sport, which predisposes them to a state of impaired recovery and low energy availability. Interestingly, a recent study found that women’s time trial performance the day after a strenuous workout is significantly impaired compared to men. Since previous research has focused on singular maximal performances with long periods of recovery between menstrual cycle phases, the interaction between cycle phase and low energy availability after repeat exercise is relatively unknown.

  • Is the impairment in recovery from repeated exercise in female athletes caused by differences in the hormonal milieu, suboptimal nutrition, or both? 

  • The project will be conducted as a randomized four-way, cross-over trial, where female athletes will undergo two different energy interventions during strenuous back-to-back exercise protocols.

Request More Information.

Interested in funding this research with Katie? We’d love to set up time and share more about the project, budget and impact.