Jennifer D. Roberts

Jennifer D. Roberts, DrPH, is assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology in the School of Public Health. She can speak on the impacts of built, social and natural environments, including the institutional and structural inequities of these environments on physical activity and public health outcomes of marginalized communities.

She is founder and director of the Public Health Outcomes and Effects of the Built Environment (PHOEBE) Laboratory, as well as the co-founder and co-director of NatureRx@UMD, an initiative that emphasizes the benefits of time in nature on mental health for the University of Maryland community.

Roberts leads the Purple Line Light Rail Impact on Neighborhood, Health and Transit (PLIGHT) study to investigate changes, as a result of a new 16-mile light rail line, in active transit, overall physical activity, obesity and obesity-related cardiovascular risks among Prince George’s County, Maryland adults. She is also a Harvard JPB Environmental Health Fellow. As part of this fellowship, Roberts leads the Gauging Effects of Neighborhood Trends and Sickness (GENTS) Study to examine the risk of transit-induced gentrification and the associated health effects (e.g., anxiety) as related to the aforementioned Purple Line light rail.