Kerry Courneya was born in Canada in 1963. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Physical Education from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, in 1987 and then completed his Master's degree in Physical Education there in 1989. He received a PhD in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois. He taught from 1989 to 2010 at McMaster University, the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta, as well as an Affiliated Scientist at the Center for Behavioral Research and Program Evaluation in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo.
Courneya is among the first researchers to shape the field of exercise oncology. When he first launched his research program in the 1990s, exercise was not recognized as a key component of cancer care. Through his work, including a series of influential randomized controlled trials, Courneya was able to demonstrate that physical activity is a safe and effective method for improving fitness, symptoms and quality of life in cancer patients, both during and after treatments. The evidence that he gathered has been compelling enough to justify the early incorporation of physical activity into cancer care and survivorship programs in Canada and beyond.
Since 2004, Courneya has served as the Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity and Cancer in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation at the University of Alberta, and since 2000, as a professor in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta.
Courneya delivered the Beatty Lecture on October 13, 2012, titled "Physical Activity in Cancer Survivors: A Field in Motion". McGill's physical education program began in 1912, and Courneya's Beatty Lecture was the high point of the year-long celebration of this historic centennial.
