Abby C. King

Recipient of Stanford’s David and Susan Heckerman Endowed Professorship, Abby C. King is faculty director of the Health-enhancing Action Research & Technology Solutions (HARTS) Lab and the Our Voice Citizen Science Research Initiative and Global Network. Her research focuses on the development, evaluation, and translation of public health interventions to reduce non-communicable and communicable diseases and their risk factors. She uses state-of-the-art communication technologies, community-based participatory research methods, and citizen science approaches to address health for all worldwide. She has served on numerous government task forces in the United States and abroad, including membership on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (USDHHS) Scientific Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2020. She co-chaired the USDHHS 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Advisory Committee, and was one of 10 U.S. scientists honored by the Association of American Medical Colleges in 2014 for outstanding research supporting health for all. She served as President of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) from 2011-2012, and in 2019 received the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity’s inaugural lifetime achievement award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Behavioral Nutrition/Physical Activity. Her research on citizen science to promote healthy environments has been honored through Stanford Medical School’s inaugural 2018 faculty Community Engagement Award and SBM’s 2018 Research to Practice Award. In 2022, she was the winner of Stanford University’s Miriam Aaron Roland Prize for Volunteer and Public Service and has been ranked among the inaugural list of “Best Female Scientists Worldwide” by Research.com.