Robert Atkins, PhD, RN

Robert (Bob) Atkins, PhD, RN, is an assistant professor of nursing and childhood studies at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. A former school nurse in the city of Camden, N.J., Atkins conducts research that explores the effects of neighborhood disadvantage on child and adolescent health and development.

His current work explores three questions about the health and development of youth living in high-poverty neighborhoods:

1) What social and institutional processes mediate the relationship of high-poverty neighborhoods to the health and well-being of youth living in those neighborhoods?

2)  How does childhood personality influence the emergence of health-damaging behaviors in adolescence?

3) What do youth in high-poverty neighborhoods do to promote, maintain, or restore their own health?

Atkins is the co-founder and president of the Camden STARR Program, a nonprofit youth development program that seeks to improve the life chances of youth living in Camden.