Abby C. King

Administrative Appointments

• Acting Director, Division Chief, Stanford Prevention Research Center/Medicine (2009 - 2010)
• Advisory Committee member, Sustainable Built Environment initiative, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment (2007 - 2010)
• Member, faculty steering committee-Mobility initiative, Stanford Center on Longevity (2007 - 2008)
• Member, Appointments & Promotions committee, Stanford Medical School (2006 - 2008)

Honors and Awards

• President, Society of Behavioral Medicine (2011 - 2012)
• President-Elect, Society of Behavioral Medicine (2010 - 2011)
• Member, US Secretary of DHHS Sci Advis Committee, National Health Promot-Dis Prev 2020 Objectives (2007 - 2011)
• Recipient, Distinguished Research Mentor Award, Society of Behavioral Medicine (2003)
• Recipient, Teaching Award for Outstanding Contributions to Divisional Teaching Activities, Stanford Prevention Research Center, Dept. of Medicine (2001)

Professional Education

Postdoctoral Advisees

Arianna McClain,  Jennifer Otten,  Sarah Ramirez,  Mary Rosenberger

Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations

• Epidemiology
• Medicine

Community and International Work

• The online health literacy of older adults, SF peninsula region and Baltimore, MD 
• Computer-based physical activity advice for ethnic minority aging adults, San Jose 
• Creating more sustainable decisions and behaviors through new processes and focused interventions 
• Multi-scale modeling of health behaviors: Water, sanitation, and child survival in Africa 
• Preventing obesity among socioeconomically disadvantaged women and children, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 

Internet Links

• Stanford Prevention Research Center

Current Research Interests

My interests include the applications of behavioral theory and social ecological approaches to achieve large scale change in chronic disease prevention and health promotion areas of relevance to mid-life and older adults; studying influences of the built and social environments on health behaviors and outcomes; expanding the reach and translation of evidence-based interventions through the use of state-of-the-art communication technologies; applying community-based participatory research perspectives to address health disparities among disadvantaged populations; and evaluating policy-level approaches to health promotion/disease prevention.

In the physical activity and aging field, I am interested in the study of physical activity as a link to other health-promoting behaviors; and the relationship of physical activity and other health-related behaviors to day-to-day functioning, stress and coping, and sleep quality, particularly in chronically stressed populations.

In pursuing the development of behavioral interventions for chronic disease prevention with broad applicability to the population at large, I have investigated channels of delivery (e.g., mediated approaches and interactive technologies) that do not require ongoing face-to-face contact. We have found that mediated interventions can provide a useful alternative to more intensive face-to-face approaches to health behavior change and, in some cases, such as in the physical activity field, may actually produce better long term (i.e., up to two years) adherence than class- or group-based approaches.

Clinical Trials

• Promoting Healthy Lifestyles Using Mobile Phones Recruiting
• Computer-Based Physical Activity Advice for Ethnic Minority Aging Adults Completed
• Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders (LIFE) Study No longer recruiting
• Fresh Start Weight Loss Study No longer recruiting

Publications

• Are daily fluctuations in perceived environment associated with walking? Hekler EB, Buman MP, Ahn D, Dunton G, Atienza AA, King AC. Psychol Health. 2012
• Food marketing to children through toys: response of restaurants to the first U.S. toy ordinance. Otten JJ, Hekler EB, Krukowski RA, Buman MP, Saelens BE, Gardner CD, King AC. Am J Prev Med. 2012; 42 (1): 56-60
• Minority recruitment into clinical trials: Experimental findings and practical implications. Moore SD, Lee K, Schoffman DE, King AC, Crawley LM, Kiernan M. Contemp Clin Trials. 2012
• Reliability and Validity of CHAMPS Self-Reported Sedentary-to-Vigorous Intensity Physical Activity in Older Adults. Hekler EB, Buman MP, Haskell WL, Conway TL, Cain KL, Sallis JF, Saelens BE, Frank LD, Kerr J, King AC. J Phys Act Health. 2012; 9 (2): 225-36
• Aging in neighborhoods differing in walkability and income: associations with physical activity and obesity in older adults. King AC, Sallis JF, Frank LD, Saelens BE, Cain K, Conway TL, Chapman JE, Ahn DK, Kerr J. Soc Sci Med. 2011; 73 (10): 1525-33