Wojtek Chodzko‑Zajko earned a bachelors degree in Exercise Science from the University of London and a Ph.D. degree from Purdue University, also in Exercise Science.  Chodzko-Zajko’s primary research interests are in the area of aging and health. For the past twenty years he has focused on the effect of exercise and physical activity on health and quality of life in old age. Chodzko-Zajko is Head of the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Chodzko‑Zajko is active in the dissemination of information about healthy aging through his work on several major professional advisory boards.  In 1996 he was appointed to the Scientific Advisory Committee of the World Health Organization charged with developing WHO Guidelines for Physical Activity Among Older Persons. Recently, he served on a WHO taskforce charged with extending this work by developing a strategy for integrating physical activity into a more comprehensive program of active aging.  Chodzko-Zajko is President of the International Society for Aging and Physical Activity.

Chodzko-Zajko is the Principal Investigator on a series of projects charged with developing a national strategy for promoting healthy aging in the USA. The National Blueprint: Increasing Physical Activity Among Adults Age 50 and Older serves as a guide for multiple organizations, associations, and agencies, to inform and support their planning work related to increasing physical activity among America's aging population. The National Blueprint Steering Committee consists of representatives of the National Institute on Aging, the National Council on the Aging, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Geriatrics Society, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Chodzko-Zajko was appointed to President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Science Board in 2006.