Biography
Pedro Hallal is a Professor at the University of Illinois - Champaign/Urbana. Prof. Hallal served as the President of the Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil from 2017 to 2020. His primary area of research is physical activity and public health. Prof. Hallal has published more than 500 scientific articles and his research has been funded by Brazilian and international agencies. According to Google Scholar, Prof. Hallal's work has been cited >74,000 times, and my h-index is 107. Prof. Hallal was the leader of the 2012 Lancet Physical Activity Series and steering committee member of the 2016 and 2021 series – work that informs the global health burden of physical inactivity. He is one of the founders and former president of the Brazilian Society of Physical Activity and Health. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Physical Activity and Health. More recently, Prof. Hallal served as the Principal Investigator for the EPICOVID19 project, the largest epidemiological study on Covid-19 in Brazil.
Additional Campus Affiliations
Alvin M. and Ruth L. Sandall Professor, Kinesiology and Community Health
Professor, Kinesiology and Community Health
Director, MPH Program, Kinesiology and Community Health
Recent Publications
Amaral de Andrade Leão, O., Flores, TR., de Oliveira Nava, D., Soares, PSM., Murray, J., Domingues, MR., & Hallal, PC. (2025). Patterns of Screen Time From Ages 2 to 6–7 Years in South Brazil: A Prospective Study. Child: Care, Health and Development, 51(1), Article e70033. https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.70033
da Penha Freire Silva, J. M., da Costa Silva, E. C., Mendonça, G., Mota, J., Hallal, P. C., & Cazuza de Farias Júnior, J. (2025). Physical activity patterns in adolescents: A longitudinal study. European Journal of Sport Science, 25(1), Article e12239. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsc.12239
Hallal, P. C., & Ding, D. (2025). Au Revoir, Paris: Bienvenido, Mexico. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 22(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2024-0774
Kohn, E. R., Bohlke, M., Almeida, A., Janelli, L., Sardinha, L. M. V., Wehrmeister, F. C., & Hallal, P. C. (2025). A post-pandemic snapshot of the magnitude of COVID-19 in Brazil: A countrywide study. Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases, 29(1), Article 104496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjid.2024.104496
Cathro, A., Spence, J. C., Cameron, C., Varela, A. R., Morales, D., Kohn, E. R., Pratt, M., & Hallal, P. C. (2024). Progress in physical activity research, policy, and surveillance in Canada: The global observatory for physical activity – GoPA! BMC public health, 24(1), Article 2866. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-20322-1