Sofiya Alhassan

Sofiya Alhassan (born July 6, 1974) is a Ghanaian-American kinesiologist and academic administrator who researches community family-based physical activity interventions. She has worked as a professor and graduate program director of the kinesiology department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences since 2007. In 2023, she became the associate dean for inclusion and engagement of the graduate school. Alhassan was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology in 2023. She is an editor of the Journal of Physical Activity and Health.

Alhassan was born July 6, 1974 to Fawzia and Abdul Alhassan in Accra, Ghana. She graduated from Springbrook High School in 1992. She earned a B.S. in psychology and exercise science from Stetson University in 1996. Alhassan received a M.S. (2000) and Ph.D. in exercise physiology (2004) from Auburn University. Her dissertation was titled, The Independent and Combined Effects of Dietary Plant Stanol Ester Margarine Supplementation and Aerobic Exercise Training on Markers of Blood Lipid Metabolism in Middle-Aged Men and Women. Peter W. Grandjean was Alhassan's doctoral advisor. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine.