Jennifer Robinson, PhD, RN
 | Associate Professor of Nursing
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Biography
Dr. Jennifer C. Robinson joined the faculty in 2008 following completion of a two-year post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Michigan. During her post-doctoral training, she focused on developing her program of research in physical activity, health disparities and investigating the effect of neighborhood on individual health and health-related behaviors. She earned a Ph.D. in Nursing from the University of Mississippi Medical Center; an MSN (adult health with nursing education focus) from the University of Southern Mississippi; a BS (nursing) from Southeastern Louisiana University; and a diploma from Charity Hospital School of Nursing.
Since coming to UMMC, she has served on numerous committees, including the SACS review and School of Nursing educational technology, and she is currently the chair of the Research Council for the School of Nursing. She teaches at both the master's and doctoral levels.
Dr. Robinson's research has been in physical activity; geographic information systems to investigate spatial and built environmental influences; and environmental and social context. In 2004, she was awarded an individual Ruth Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the National Institute of Nursing Research and the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities for two years to complete her dissertation research. Her dissertation was entitled, "Physical Activity as a Function of Social Status and Neighborhood Context."
She also received funding under a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development training award to study geographic information systems (GIS) for population scientists. She received several small grants including an internal University of Michigan SON pilot grant to conduct focus groups, photovoice and environmental location assessment using a global positioning system (GPS) in the field as well as an UMMC SON grant to utilize additional GIS-based programs to map community resources for older adults in Mississippi. Dr. Robinson is also an investigator in the Deep South Network for Cancer Control, a collaborative project with University of Alabama at Birmingham. She also recently served as the co-study director for outreach and partnerships for the National Children's Study, Hinds County, Mississippi study location. She continues to work as an Investigator with the NCS.
Dr. Robinson is an active member of the American Heart Association, Southern Nurses Association, Mississippi Nurses Association, American College of Sports Medicine, International Society for Physical Activity and Health and Sigma Theta Tau International.
Research overview
Dr. Robinson's program of research is in physical activity and neighborhood context. She has also concentrated on cardiovascular health disparities associated with geographic location and socioeconomic position and uses a social epidemiological approach. Much of Dr. Robinson's research utilizes a geographic information system (GIS) to spatially locate individuals within neighborhoods. She then applied multilevel statistical modeling to investigate the contribution of individual and neighborhood level factors on the outcome. She recently has begun to utilize a handheld global positioning system (GPS) to add neighborhood spatial features, including built environmental factors.
Dr. Robinson is currently completing a replication and expansion study of her dissertation to determine the impact of neighborhood in determining physical activity in African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study. She is also conducting a mixed-methods pilot study of determinants of walking in older African Americans in Detroit; a study of neighborhoods with the National Children's Study using an environmental audit; and community resource mapping in Forrest County, Miss.