Rate My Professor Courtney Mcgowan

Dr. Courtney McGowan is a Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science in the Faculty of Health at Southern Cross University. She earned a BSc in Coaching, a BSc Honours in Sport Studies, and a PhD in Exercise Physiology from the University of Canberra. Her doctoral research, conducted in collaboration with Swimming Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport, focused on competition day preparation strategies to enhance sprint performance in elite swimmers. With over 12 years of experience as an applied sport and exercise scientist, she holds professional accreditations from Exercise and Sport Science Australia and the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association. McGowan previously served as a postgraduate scholar in the Physiology Department at the Australian Institute of Sport and as a Lecturer in Exercise and Sport Science at the University of Tasmania.

McGowan's research interests include warm-up strategies, environmental physiology and thermoregulation, physical preparation of development-elite athletes, and cognitive strategies to enhance sports performance. Notable innovations from her work, such as heated tracksuits and dryland-based activation exercises during transition phases, have been adopted by the Australian Swimming Team since the 2014 Pan Pacific Games and used at the 2016, 2020, and 2024 Olympics. Her black heated jacket was worn by every member of the gold medal-winning women's 4x100m freestyle relay team at Paris 2024. Key publications include "Warm-Up Strategies for Sport and Exercise: Mechanisms and Applications" (Sports Medicine, 2015), "Heated jackets and dryland-based activation exercises used as additional warm-ups during transition enhance sprint swimming performance" (2015), "Twelve Weeks of Oral L-Serine Supplementation Improves Glucose Tolerance, Reduces Visceral Fat Pads, and Reverses the mRNA Overexpression of Renal Injury Markers KIM-1, IL-6, and TNF-α in a Mouse Model of Obesity" (2023), and "Exploring the current landscape and aspirations of Australian strength and conditioning coaches" (2025). Her scholarship has amassed 843 citations, with presentations at the American College of Sports Medicine and European College of Sport Science annual meetings. She currently leads a research team refining elite athlete warm-up strategies and serves as lead physical preparation coach for Surfing Tasmania.