Abby C. King

About

Abby C. King is the David and Susan Heckerman Professor of Epidemiology & Population Health and of Medicine at Stanford University, with a focus on public health interventions aimed at reducing chronic disease both in the United States and globally. Her research emphasizes expanding the reach and generalizability of evidence-based health interventions through the use of advanced communication technologies, community-based participatory research methods, and policy-level approaches to health promotion. She has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Outstanding Scientific Contributions in Health Psychology Award from the American Psychological Association, and has served on various government taskforces such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Scientific Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2020, and the Science Board of the U.S. President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. Dr. King is also the founder and Faculty Director of the OUR VOICE Global Citizen Science Research Initiative and Network, and has received international recognition for her work on global Citizen Science engagement to promote healthful environments and communities.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Gerontology
• Psychology
• Computer Science
• Public relations
• Environmental health
• Psychiatry
• Physical therapy

Selected publications

• A systematic review of physical activity and quality of life and well-being

  Translational Behavioral Medicine · 2020 · 545 citations

  Maintaining or improving quality of life (QoL) and well-being is a universal goal across the lifespan. Being physically active has been suggested as one way to enhance QoL and well-being. In this systematic review, conducted in part for the 2018 U.S. Health and Human Services Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Scientific Advisory Committee Report, we examined the relationship between physical activity (PA) and QoL and well-being experienced by the general population across the lifespan a…

  DOI

• An ecosystem service perspective on urban nature, physical activity, and health

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2021 · 239 citations

  Nature underpins human well-being in critical ways, especially in health. Nature provides pollination of nutritious crops, purification of drinking water, protection from floods, and climate security, among other well-studied health benefits. A crucial, yet challenging, research frontier is clarifying how nature promotes physical activity for its many mental and physical health benefits, particularly in densely populated cities with scarce and dwindling access to nature. Here we frame this front…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Urban blue spaces and human health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative studies

  Cities · 2021 · 186 citations

  DOI

• Employing Participatory Citizen Science Methods to Promote Age-Friendly Environments Worldwide

  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2020 · 120 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  The trajectory of aging is profoundly impacted by the physical and social environmental contexts in which we live. While “top–down” policy activities can have potentially wide impacts on such contexts, they often take time, resources, and political will, and therefore can be less accessible to underserved communities. This article describes a “bottom–up”, resident-engaged method to advance local environmental and policy change, called Our Voice, that can complement policy-level strategies for im…

  DOI

• Community-Based Approaches to Reducing Health Inequities and Fostering Environmental Justice through Global Youth-Engaged Citizen Science

  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2021 · 112 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Growing socioeconomic and structural disparities within and between nations have created unprecedented health inequities that have been felt most keenly among the world’s youth. While policy approaches can help to mitigate such inequities, they are often challenging to enact in under-resourced and marginalized communities. Community-engaged participatory action research provides an alternative or complementary means for addressing the physical and social environmental contexts that can impact he…

  DOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01HL077141

  NIH · $2.3M · 2010

• NIH Grant R01HL116448

  NIH · $3.0M · 2018

• NIH Grant R01AG012358

  NIH · $1.3M · 2001

Frequent coauthors

• Marco Pahor

  University of Florida

  272 shared

• Roger A. Fielding

  Tufts University

  243 shared

• Thomas M. Gill

  Yale University

  216 shared

• Jack M. Guralnik

  University of Maryland, Baltimore

  200 shared

• Todd M. Manini

  University of Florida

  190 shared

• Andrea L. Dunn

  University of Southampton

  180 shared

• Nancy W. Glynn

  160 shared

• Timothy S. Church

  Pennington Biomedical Research Center

  143 shared

Labs

• Vice Provost for Student AffairsPI

  Not provided

Education

• Ph.D., Epidemiology and Population Health

  Stanford University

• M.D.

  Stanford University

• B.A.

  University of California, Berkeley

Awards & honors

• Outstanding Scientific Contributions in Health Psychology Aw…
• Honors from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AA…
• Stanford Medical School’s inaugural faculty community engage…
• SBM’s 2018 Research to Practice Award
• Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Distinguished Research Ment…

Similar researchers at Stanford University

• Victor W. Hendersonh-89
• Booil Joh-59
• David B. Gruskyh-42