Jennifer Roberts
Jennifer Roberts
Dr. Jennifer D. Roberts is a tenured Associate Professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Health in the Department of Kinesiology. She is an expert in health equity, health disparities, and social injustices. Dr. Roberts approaches her work as a scholar, historian, and activist. At the University of Maryland, she researches the impacts of built and natural environments, including the structural and systemic inequities of these environments, on public health outcomes in historically marginalized communities. Dr. Roberts leads several initiatives focused on eliminating health inequities and closing the gaps of race-based health disparities.
“It is such a broad field that it can accommodate many interests, including policy, science, advocacy, consulting…It is possible to find your niche.” - Jennifer Roberts, 2005.
Roberts, J.D. (2023). From Cold Fronts and Real Humans to Intersecting Issues and Promoting Equity: A Recap of the 2023 Active Living Conference. Journal of Healthy Eating and Active Living. PMC10699859.
Roberts, J.D.. (2023) From Environmental Racism To Environmental Reparation: The Story of One American City. Journal of Physical Activity and Health. doi: 10.1123/jpah.2023-0338.
Roberts J.D., Dickinson K.L., Hendricks M.D, Jennings V. (2022). “I Can’t Breathe”: Examining the Legacy of American Racism on Determinants of Health and the Ongoing Pursuit of Environmental Justice. Current Environmental Health Reports. doi.org/10.1007/s40572-022-00343-x.
Hu, M., Roberts, J. D., Azevedo, G. P., & Milner, D. 2021. The role of built and social environmental factors in Covid-19 transmission: A look at America’s capital city. Sustainable Cities and Society, 65, 102580.
Roberts, J. D., Voss, J. D., & Knight, B. 2014. The association of ambient air pollution and physical inactivity in the United States. PloS one, 9(3), e90143.
Roberts, J. D., Mandic, S., Fryer, C. S., Brachman, M. L., & Ray, R. 2019. Between privilege and oppression: An intersectional analysis of active transportation experiences among Washington DC area youth. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(8), 1313.
Roberts, J. D., & Tehrani, S. O. 2020. Environments, behaviors, and inequalities: reflecting on the impacts of the influenza and coronavirus pandemics in the United States. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(12), 4484.
Jennifer D. Roberts was born in Buffalo, New York, on April 10, 1974. She is the eldest of two children. Her mother, Denise Barkley, is a retired schoolteacher. Dr. Roberts attended Brown University, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in Health and Society. Dr. Roberts first became interested in a public health career as an undergraduate. During that time, she was enrolled in the premedical program. She says she was always interested in science and medicine; however, her major was public health. She eventually decided that it would be beneficial to obtain a Master of Public Health. She attended Emory University, earning a Master of Public Health in Environmental and Occupational Health. Dr. Roberts initially began studying behavior but soon realized her interests lay in the environmental health tract.
While in graduate school, Dr. Roberts had various research assistant and internship positions. During her first summer at Emory, she interned at the Dekalb County Board of Environmental Health and was responsible for conducting pool inspections and radon testing. Following this, Dr. Roberts worked on a research project funded by the American Cancer Society, where she gathered information on carcinogenic exposures. She summarized that information for lay readers to inform them of the risks posed by carcinogens. From there, Dr. Roberts became a data specialist at the Planned Parenthood organization in Georgia. Here, she was responsible for soliciting and administering donations.
During her first summer at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Roberts worked on an air pollution study in South Baltimore. Dr. Roberts recalls that South Baltimore was an industrial area with very high cancer rates, and the research she worked on attempted to identify the levels of pollutants in the air. Dr. Roberts became an intern at the National Academies of Science the following summer. As an intern, she evaluated children’s health. In 2004, Dr. Roberts completed her doctorate in Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences from Johns Hopkins University.
From 2004 to 2005, Dr. Roberts completed a post-doctoral appointment with the Board of Environmental Studies and Toxicology with The National Academies of Science in Washington, DC. While there, she worked in a research capacity. One research project involved evaluating toxicity testing methods. She asked and strived to answer the questions, “Where do we go from here? Are animal models a necessity, or how can we better extrapolate animal data to humans?” and “What is the future of toxicity testing in terms of methodology?”
From 2005 to 2007, Dr. Roberts was a Senior Health Scientist for ChemRisk, an environmental consulting firm in San Francisco specializing in toxicology, industrial hygiene, epidemiology, and risk assessment research and services. From 2007 to 2011, she joined Exponent, a scientific and engineering consulting firm, as a Senior Scientist. She joined the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in 2011 as an Assistant Professor in the Preventative Medicine and Biometrics Department.
An early career highlight for Dr. Roberts was presenting her research and seeing the effects of her dissertation research on the urban community in which she did her research. The health department in the city of Baltimore incorporated her recommendations into its policies and behaviors. Dr. Roberts was pleased to see her work influencing policy in a way that helps minority and urban communities.
In 2011, Dr. Roberts pivoted her career to examine the impacts of the built environment on physical activity and health. She also left consulting and entered academia to become an Assistant Professor at the Uniformed Services Univesity of Health Science. By 2015 she joined the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, and in 2021, she was tenured and promoted to an Associate Professor. She founded new programs and initiatives at the University of Maryland, including the Public Health Outcomes and Effects of the Built Environment (PHOEBE) Laboratory, and co-founded NatureRX@UMD. In 2022, Dr. Roberts received an REI Cooperative Action Fund that supported the creation of the Wekesa Earth Center, a collaborative effort at the University of Maryland to foster scholarship, equity, and healing in nature. In the Spring of 2024, Dr. Roberts is on a sabbatical studying green space equity in the Buffalo, New York, Area.
Dr. Roberts has had many positive influences and mentors who helped her immensely throughout her studies. One of her mentors was her advisor, Dr. Ellen Silbergeld, who was very supportive of Dr. Roberts while she worked on her dissertation. Dr. Silbergeld was very accessible for advising and provided new perspectives on her field of research. Dr. Patrick Breysse was her first advisor at Johns Hopkins, and he assisted her immensely. With his help, she was awarded a National Research Service Award (NRSA) through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Dr. Margo Schwab, a former professor, was another mentor who gave her invaluable advice during all four years of her educational training at Johns Hopkins. Lastly, Dr. Nga Tran, an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins and Senior Managing Scientist at Exponent, provided valuable advice. Dr. Tran’s work was similar to the work Dr. Roberts wanted to do. Dr. Tran also helped her strengthen her dissertation topic. It was encouraging to Dr. Roberts to see that her goals were attainable based on the experiences and work of Dr. Tran. Dr. Roberts states that her holistic mentoring style treats students as whole people. Dr. Roberts always checks in with her students and asks them how they are doing separately from their work.
Throughout her career, she has continued to be mentored by colleagues, such as Drs. Brian Saelens, Jim Sallis, Howard Frumkin and many others.
In her experience, Dr. Roberts has found misconceptions about minoritized individuals in the environmental field. She would advise anyone considering a career in the environment not to let those views alter their route. She also believes that young people should only narrow their options after looking into what is offered in the environmental field. The environmental field is also open to volunteer opportunities for people who want to help but need to know if they want ecological studies to be their main field. “It is such a broad field that it can accommodate many interests, including policy, science, advocacy, consulting, and so forth. It is possible to find your niche” (2005). Dr. Roberts also states that students should keep their doors open and not to lock themselves into one aspect of something.
Jennifer D. Dr. Roberts | University of Maryland | School of Public Health. (2021). Umd.edu. https://sph.umd.edu/people/jennifer-d-roberts
Survey and interviews conducted by Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative staff. 2022-2023. Yale University-School of the Environment. New Haven, Connecticut.
Taylor, Dorceta (Ed.). 2005. The Paths We Thread: Profiles of the Careers of Minority Environmental Professionals. Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment.
Jennifer D. Roberts, 2021