Dr. Deborah Rohm Young is Director of Behavioral Research in the Department of Research & Evaluation at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. Prior to that she was Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Professor in the Department of Kinesiology in the University of Maryland School of Public Health. She is a recognized scholar in the conduct of community-based physical activity intervention trials, specifically for minority women and adolescent girls, segments of the population that suffer the most profound health consequences of a sedentary lifestyle. Dr. Young has received more than $8.5 million dollars in direct costs as a Principal Investigator in awards from the National Institutes of Health. Her peer-reviewed publications exceed 125 in number.
Dr. Young has served on multiple committees in the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health, and is co-chair of its Spring Program Committee. She is chair of the Community Level Health Promotion scientific grant review committee of the National Institutes of Health, and has served in an editorial capacity for three journals. Dr. Young served on the inaugural Science Board for the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and chaired the board in 2006-2007.