Deborah A. Cohen

Deborah A. Cohen is a research scientist with the Division of Behavioral Health in the Department of Research and Evaluation at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. She was previously a senior natural scientist and physician policy researcher with the RAND Corporation. Cohen studies how environmental factors influence the health of communities and affect health disparities. She has investigated how the management and design of neighborhood parks can support more people to be physically active and is currently developing and evaluating interventions to promote more physical activity and a healthier diet. She has served on panels for the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Cohen earned her MD from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPH in epidemiology from the Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is board certified in Public Health and Preventive Medicine. 

updated 2025