Assistant Professor - Department of Neurological Sciences

Academic Office:
988440 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-8440
Fax: 402-559-3341

• University of Nebraska-Lincoln, BA, English (2004)
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln, MA, English (2009)
• Arizona State University, PhD, Exercise Science (2014)
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Postdoctoral Fellowship, Exercise Psychology (2014-2017)

Research Interests:
Physical activity and successful aging; cognitive, psychosocial, and neural determinants and outcomes of physical activity behaviors in cancer populations and older adults

Dr. Ehlers' Exercise Neuropsychology Lab

• Society of Behavioral Medicine
• American College of Sports Medicine

Current Clinical Research: 
Study on Physical Activity’s Relationship with Cancer and Cognition (SPARCC)
Clinical trials NCT: NCT03980626

Patterns of Activity and Cognition during Treatment (PACT)
Clinical trials NCT: NCT04562987

Perceptions, Experiences and Activity in CancEr Surivovrs during COVID-19 (PEACE).
Clinical trials NCT: NCT04637295 

Biographical Sketch:
Dr. Ehlers is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurological Sciences.  She earned her PhD in Exercise Science from Arizona State University, where she studied psychosocial determinants and outcomes of physical activity in middle-aged women. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she focused on the effects of aerobic exercise training on cognition and brain integrity in healthy older adults and breast cancer survivors.  Her current research includes investigations of physical activity's influence on cognition and brain health in cancer survivors.  She is specifically interested in establishing the efficacy of exercise for ameliorating cancer-related cognitive impairments, in testing various patterns and doses of physical activity across cancer care, and in identifying the mechanisms by which exercise elicits cognitive and neural benefits in cancer populations.

• Ehlers, D.K., Fanning, J., Sunderlage, A., Severson, J., Kramer, A.F., & McAuley, E. (2020). Influence of sitting behaviors on sleep disturbance and memory impairment in breast cancer survivors. Cancer Medicine, 9, 3417-24. doi: 10.1002/cam4.3008
• Ehlers, D.K., Dubois, K., & Salerno, E.A. (2020). The effects of exercise on cancer-related fatigue in breast cancer patients during primary treatment: A meta-analysis and systematic review. Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy. doi: 10.1080/14737140.2020.1813028
• Hanson, L.L., Severson, J., Kramer, A.F., McAuley, E., & Ehlers, D.K. (2020). Differences in cognition and physical activity in younger versus older breast cancer survivors. Psycho-Oncology, 29, 1228-31. doi: 10.1002/pon.5388
• Arem, H., Mama, S.K., Rowland, J., Bellizzi, K.M., & Ehlers, D.K. (2020). Prevalence of healthy behaviors among cancer survivors in the United States: How far have we come? Cancer Prevention, Epidemiology & Biomarkers, 29(6), 1179-87. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-19-1318
• Gothe, N.P., Ehlers, D.K., Salerno, E.A., Fanning, J., Kramer, A.F., & McAuley, E. (2020). Physical activity, sleep, and quality of life in older adults: Influences of physical, mental, and social well-being. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 8(6). doi: 10.1080/15402002.2019.1690493
• Welch, W.A., Ehlers, D., Gavin, K.L., Aguiñaga, S., Cottrelli, A., Nielsen, A., Solk, P., McAuley, E., & Phillips, S.M (2019). Effects of reallocating sedentary time with physical activity on quality of life indicators in breast cancer survivors. Psycho-Oncology, 28(7), 1430-1437.

A full list of publications can be found here.